English novelist Mosley (Hopeful Monsters
) explores the nature of free will in this playful but often frustrating allegory of God’s exasperation with the humans he created. In the Garden of Eden, the Old Man must figure out how to eject his children, Adam and Eve, from home in a way that allows them to get on with their lives, but also not resent the Old Man and his wife, Lilith. Adam is a writer whose narrative becomes his creative maneuvering out of the Garden and into the chance encounters and lucky turns that life offers. Adam’s daughter, Sophie, and her two friends, Aisha and Amelie, are the plucky protagonists of these subsequent adventures, traveling to the Middle East, where they learn firsthand of the hostilities between nations, people and religions that render the world perilous and unstable. The God-given human freedom that these characters enjoy inevitably comes with risks, though each of the young women helps repair some of the ancient rancor. Mosley’s tale of deep ideas meanders pleasantly, but frequently veers out of his control. (Mar.)
