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 51
... Joe Barron . But Joe Barron , handsome , clean - cut , blue - eyed ginger - haired Saxon Joe , had eyes only for pretty Bessie , perched anxious and vulnerable on the edge of her chair . Her neck was so thin it seemed to invite assault ...
... Joe Barron . But Joe Barron , handsome , clean - cut , blue - eyed ginger - haired Saxon Joe , had eyes only for pretty Bessie , perched anxious and vulnerable on the edge of her chair . Her neck was so thin it seemed to invite assault ...
Page 98
... Joe Barron was ambitious , and hoped for more from life . Joe Barron's life as a travelling sales- man made him ache with boredom . He was easily bored . He could not take any interest in glass or Bakelite . But it was hard to know ...
... Joe Barron was ambitious , and hoped for more from life . Joe Barron's life as a travelling sales- man made him ache with boredom . He was easily bored . He could not take any interest in glass or Bakelite . But it was hard to know ...
Page 119
... Joe Barron . Were Joe Barron and Bessie Bawtry courting ? Dora , who was deputed to chaperone them as they sat on the couch in the front room , thought that they were , though she was not quite sure what courting involved . This was an ...
... Joe Barron . Were Joe Barron and Bessie Bawtry courting ? Dora , who was deputed to chaperone them as they sat on the couch in the front room , thought that they were , though she was not quite sure what courting involved . This was an ...
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Common terms and phrases
Auntie Dora babies Bert Bessie Barron Bessie Bawtry Bessie's boys 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 hair Hammervale happy Highcross Holderfield Jenny Pargiter Joe Barron knew listened lived 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 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