Not Wanted on the Voyage is the story of the great flood and the first time the world ended. It is a brilliant, unforgettable drama filled with an extraordinary cast of remarkable characters: the tyrannical Noah and his indomitable wife, Mrs. Noyes; the aging and irritable Yahweh; a chorus of singing sheep; and a unicorn destined for a horrible death. With pathos and pageantry, desperation and hope, magic and mythology, this acclaimed novel weaves its unforgettable spell.

Timothy Findley (1930-2002) was one of Canada's most compelling and best-loved writers. He is the author of The Wars, which won the Governor General's Award and established him as one of Canada's leading writers, as well as Pilgrim and The Piano Man's Daughter, both finalists for The Giller Prize. His other novels, Headhunter, The Telling Of Lies, The Last Of The Crazy People, The Butterfly Plague, Famous Last Words, Not Wanted On The Voyage, and Spadework; his novella, You Went Away; and his short fiction, Dinner Along The Amazon, Stones, and Dust To Dust, have won numerous awards and are well loved both in Canada and internationally.

Elizabeth Rex won the Governor General's Award for Drama and The Stillborn Lover won a Chalmers Award. His works of non-fiction include Inside Memory and From Stone Orchard.

Timothy Findley was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

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Paul Quarrington won numerous awards for his work, including the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour and Canada Reads 2008 for his novel King Leary. His Governor General's Award-winning Whale Music was made into a critically acclaimed feature film. He also won awards for his writing for the television series Due South and for his screen play for Perfectly Normal. On January 21, 2010, he succumbed to lung cancer and died at his home surrounded by friends and family. He is missed.

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Paul Quarrington's profile page

"A dazzling display of literary thaumaturgy, magic in its purest sense..." - Paul Quarrington

Unicorn get out of my head

by laurieb9

We discussed this book last night at book club.
It certainly was one to get me thinking. I was brought up Catholic. The kind of Catholic who went to church every Sunday and participated very much in church activities, never questioning, just doing. For me it was just something I did. Like brush my teeth.
Then I went to university and moved away from home, but I still went to church every Sunday on campus. I took a class that first year, intro to comparative religion. It really opened my eyes, it really made me start to question and try to understand some things about my religion, that I had never done before.
Needless to say, I stopped going to church. But I still get Catholic’s guilt. I guess it is in my blood.
This book is a retelling on the Genesis story about Noah and the ark. It was dark, and well written. It affected me. A lot. I couldn’t sleep sometimes. It really changed my idea about the whole story.
I used to think of it as a cartoon, everything happy happy happy on the ark going to the new world. But then when you think about it, I mean, really think about it. It is terrifying. You have these animals stuck in the dark without proper anything for a long time praying for it all to be over.
Noah is a dark, scary man, and now that I think back it all makes sense.
There are some disturbing scenes. But I think life was distributing back then.
Read it, then talk to me about unicorns.