SJane

The plot of this book pits creationism against evolution, and revolves around Tobias Phelps, an odd-looking boy unsure of his parentage, who is adopted by a parson and his wife in a town called Thunder Spit. A parallel plot unfolds in London around the same time -1845- involving a taxidermist, his daughter Violet and the family chef. One other intertwined story centered on a rather sleazy veterinarian is set in Thunder Spit in 2005, a time when England is beset by female infertility. There are a number of other key characters, and it took me some 60 pages to sort out who was who, where was where, and what was what.

Liz Jensen is a good writer and Ark Baby is told in a very amusing and colorful way, with five or six true laugh-out-loud moments. My favorite character is the taxidermist's wife, nicknamed "Laudanum Empress," who can see the future.

**
"There will be two world wars," murmurs the Laudanum Empress, yawning over her untouched cup and saucer. It is the heyday of her psychic particles. "As a result, a million skulls will be strewn all over France." She pauses, squinting sideways. "But on the more positive side, there will be something known as long-life milk."
(...)
"There will be gambling machines called one-armed bandits," says the Laudanum Empress. "And artists will display their own excrement in galleries."
**

Although I enjoyed this book, it was also silly and on the whole not really worth the time. I read another of her novels this summer,
[b:The Ninth Life of Louis Drax|118812|The Ninth Life of Louis Drax|Liz Jensen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312063953s/118812.jpg|2233181], which I think was a better story.