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. |
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Page 147
... death camps , dying of history , dying re- luctant , dying angry . All , all , dragged to death as at the horse's tail ? What was the point of all the dead ? Faro moaned and rocked and put the pillow over her head for comfort . She was ...
... death camps , dying of history , dying re- luctant , dying angry . All , all , dragged to death as at the horse's tail ? What was the point of all the dead ? Faro moaned and rocked and put the pillow over her head for comfort . She was ...
Page 278
... death itself . But death is greedy , and death is per- sistent . Death is not vanquished yet . A hawk flutters over them , as , fortified , they climb the last stretch to the cave mouth . Shall they dare to enter ? Faro had barked her ...
... death itself . But death is greedy , and death is per- sistent . Death is not vanquished yet . A hawk flutters over them , as , fortified , they climb the last stretch to the cave mouth . Shall they dare to enter ? Faro had barked her ...
Page 279
... death of Grandma Barron , as she had promised . She has been in no hurry to tell it , for she and Steve have time before them , all the time in the world . She will remember it as they climb back down the hill to her car , and treat him ...
... death of Grandma Barron , as she had promised . She has been in no hurry to tell it , for she and Steve have time before them , all the time in the world . She will remember it as they climb back down the hill to her car , and treat him ...
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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