Ship Of Fools

The characters on Norminton''s purgatorial ''Ship of Fools'' - a ship that''s going nowhere fast - bicker and struggle for attention; telling tales that bounce off one another to form a compendium of interralated stories, running from lyrical romance to scabrous satire, by way of fairy-tale and black comedy. Often wickedly funny, always stunningly written and displaying an astonishing range of voices (the prudish nun, the bawdy old woman, the penitent drunkard, and the glutton whose stomach does all the talking - to name a few) ''The Ship of Fools'' is truly a treasure chest of a novel, and an example of story-telling at its very best.