The Peppered MothBessie Bawtry is a young girl living in the early 1900s in Breaseborough, a mining town in South Yorkshire, England. Unusually gifted, she longs to escape a life burdened by unquestioned tradition. She studies patiently, dreaming of the day when she will take the entrance exam for Cambridge and be able to leave her narrow world. A generation later, Bessie's daughter Chrissie feels a similar impulse to expand her horizons, which she in turn passes on to her own daughter. Nearly a century later, Bessie's granddaughter, Faro Gaulden, finds herself listening to a lecture on genetics and biological determinism. She has returned to Breaseborough and wonders at the families who remained in the humble little town where Bessie grew up. Confronted with what would have been her life had her grandmother stayed, she finds herself faced with difficult questions. Is she really so different from the plain South Yorkshire locals? As she soon learns, the past has a way of reasserting itself-not unlike the peppered moth that was once thought to be nearing extinction but is now enjoying a sudden unexplained resurgence. "The Peppered Moth" is a brilliantly conceived novel, full of irony, sadness, and humor. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 42
Page 122
... clear , but Joe could have used it as an excuse , had he wished to . He too got an upper second degree and liked to tell the tale of how , bracing himself to read the class lists pinned up at the Senate House , he began at the bottom ...
... clear , but Joe could have used it as an excuse , had he wished to . He too got an upper second degree and liked to tell the tale of how , bracing himself to read the class lists pinned up at the Senate House , he began at the bottom ...
Page 155
... clear to them , and for the time being they were in demand . Bessie enjoyed being in demand , though she did not say so : she abided by the con- ventions of subdued complaint about the well - recognized in- conveniences of war . People ...
... clear to them , and for the time being they were in demand . Bessie enjoyed being in demand , though she did not say so : she abided by the con- ventions of subdued complaint about the well - recognized in- conveniences of war . People ...
Page 290
... clear blue sky opening in the future , as clear as the sky above her . There was plenty to do on board . Chrissie read her Dos Passos , and wandered around the boutiques deciding not to buy anything , and wondering whether to have a ...
... clear blue sky opening in the future , as clear as the sky above her . There was plenty to do on board . Chrissie read her Dos Passos , and wandered around the boutiques deciding not to buy anything , and wondering whether to have a ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Auntie Dora babies Bert Bessie Barron Bessie Bawtry Bessie's boys Brease Breasebor Breaseborough Cambridge Chrissie's coal Cotterhall dark daugh daughter dead death Donald Sinclair Dora's Dr Hawthorn earth Edith Sitwell Ellen Bawtry eyes Faro Gaulden Faro's father Fiona George Bellew Georgette Heyer Gertrude Wadsworth girl glass Hammervale happy Holderfield Jenny Pargiter Joe Barron knew listened live look Lyme Regis married Miss Heald mother never Nick Gaulden Nick's night Northam once peppered moth Peter Cudworth ring Robert and Chrissie Rose & Rose round Rowena says Faro Sebastian seemed sister Dora Slotton Road smell South Yorkshire Spanish flu stare Stella Steve Nieman story sure T. S. Eliot tell thing thought tried waiting waste watch woman women wonder young