ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we read Lydia Millet’s 2020 A Children’s Bible as an “ecological crime fiction hybrid” novel that utilises contemporary environmental thought placed in conversation with an essay by Gilles Deleuze, “The Philosophy of Crime Novels.” Our reading traces out Millet’s skillful synthesis of “classical crime fiction” motifs with common themes drawn from Biblical texts possessing strong ecological elements to them – Noah’s Ark in particular – to produce a work that raises profound ethical questions about the nature of criminality, responsibility, and which stories might be most helpful in dealing with the ongoing climate crisis.
