Noah's Law

 

 

 

 

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

 

 

Randa Abdel-Fattah is the award-winning author of the young adult novels
Does My Head Look Big in This?
,
Ten Things I
Hate About Me
and
Where The Streets Had A Name
. Her books have received acclaim around the world. Randa regularly gives talks and workshops at schools and writers' festivals throughout Australia and around the world.

Randa lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children. She works as a litigation lawyer and is also a human rights activist, appearing on television programs such as the ABC's
First Tuesday Book Club
, the ABC's
Q & A
, SBS's
Insight
and Channel Seven's
Sunrise
.

 

 

Also by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Does My Head Look Big in This?
Ten Things I Hate About Me
Where the Streets Had a Name

 

 

 

First published 2010 in Pan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney

Copyright © Randa Abdel-Fattah 2010

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Abdel-Fattah, Randa.
Noah's law / Randa Abdel-Fattah.

ISBN 9780330426183 (pbk.)

Responsibility – Fiction.

A823.4

Cover photographs: iStock and www.sxc.hu
Typeset in Minion Pro 11/16pt by Post Pres-Press Australia
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

 

 

These electronic editions published in 2010 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organizations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

Noah's Law

Randa Abdel-Fattah

 

 

 

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www.panmacmillan.com.au
to read more about all our books and to buy both print and ebook online. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events.

To my beautiful husband, Ibrahim

There are so many people to thank for supporting me juggle motherhood with my writing and legal career. First and foremost, my family who have all been so generous with their time and encouragement. I want to acknowledge my sensational agent, Sheila Drummond, whose opinion and judgment I value so much. I am blessed to be working with an amazing team at Pan Macmillan: Claire Craig, Joel Naoum, Sue Bobbermein, Cate Paterson. Five years on and I'm still pinching myself. I want to thank Ali for her scrupulous copy-editing and for picking up some really embarrassing typos! I also wish to thank the Australia Council for the Arts for their generous assistance.

Writing a legal thriller whilst still working as a lawyer will inevitably have colleagues wondering if they have inspired any characters or scenes. I can honestly say that any similarities are pure coincidence as I have approached this book as a work of fiction. Having said that, I will admit that the idea for this book occurred to me whilst I was in a team meeting at work. I pretended to be jotting down minutes of the meeting when in actual fact I was plotting this book. Which firm and which meeting is for me to know and for no-one to find out!

 

Fine. I'll admit it was an immature thing to do. Childish even. But not stupid.

My dad disagreed.

There was really no need to involve him. I always knew Mr Kenard had low-life tendencies, but calling my dad in for a meeting to discuss my ‘attitude' was going overboard.

Personally I couldn't see what the big deal was. The essays were sitting on Mr Kenard's desk.

Okay, so they were important. Worth eighty percent of our final mark. Well then why did Mr Kenard leave them on his desk when he went to the staffroom to take a phone call? When he knew I was alone in his office waiting for him to quiz me about my
alleged
(the italics are important) involvement in blocking the staff toilet cistern with tennis balls?

It seemed like an irresistible idea at the time (the essay affair, not the
alleged
toilet thing, although if I did do it, which I didn't, I'd have to say that would have been pretty irresistible too). And yes I have admitted the essay thing was immature and childish. But changing the marks was fun and most definitely
not stupid
.

The essay topic was
Explain what you understand by normal body temperature.

London Dicker's response was
Abnormal body temperature is the body's response to Carla Ricci coming to school on mufti day in a see-through top. In order to maintain normal body temperature, Carla Ricci must not be in sight.

I mean, case closed as far as I'm concerned. The guy deserved the Order of Australia. So of course when I saw a
1/10
on London Dicker's essay it seemed almost sinful not to celebrate his efforts.

So I added a stroke. One out of ten became seven out of ten.

Not to mention the guy could clearly use a break. For crying out loud, his parents have never even been to London. They work in a factory dipping almonds in sugar so that people at weddings have something to chew on when the conversation gets dull. London figures his parents need to make at least ten million of those almonds to afford half of one airfare. Apparently, naming their kid after the first place on their travel wish list was the next best thing to actually going there.

And
I
have issues?

Then there was Robyn. Three out of ten became eight out of ten. It was another act of charity. The girl thinks ‘algebra' is a Middle Eastern country.

Let's just say there were several – okay, a large number – of other altered marks, all done with the best of intentions. Everybody deserves a little false hope now and again. Some people also need their egos deflated. That essay by Jade Donovan, with her ‘I don't have time for people who don't read the
Financial Review
' snobbery, was practically a godsend. Ten out of
one hundred
with comments in the margin such as ‘
SEE ME
' and ‘
DISGRACEFUL
' in red pen. Simply beautiful.

Mr Kenard didn't quite see it my way. ‘Noah Nabulsi, those students went home either ecstatic or devastated with their results,' he said. ‘When they received their final mark, reflecting their actual ability – or should I say
dis
ability – I had their parents here in my office demanding an explanation! And then there was Jade. What do you say to a mother who tells you her daughter tried to overdose on her sister's bottle of Iron Tablets for a Woman's First Trimester because she was so distressed by her mark? Her mother wasn't sure if Jade was pregnant or making a feeble suicide attempt! Worse still, she couldn't decide which was more disturbing.'