The Peppered MothIn the early 1900s, Bessie Bawtry, a small child with big notions, lives in a South Yorkshire mining town in England. Precocious and refined in a land of little ambition and much mining grime, Bessie waits for the day she can escape the bleak, coarse existence her ancestors had seldom questioned. Nearly a century later Bessie's granddaughter, Faro Gaulden, is listening to a lecture on genetic inheritance. She has returned to the depressed little town in which Bessie grew up and wonders at the families who never left. 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 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 brilliant novel, full of irony, sadness, and humor. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
LibraryThing Review
User Review - suesbooks - LibraryThingThe writing was much better than the content, but even that aspect got tiring with the numerous repetitions. The characters of the 4 generations were somewhat interesting, but I did not care much for ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - IonaS - LibraryThingI found this book too drab and unexciting to be able to get into. I never got to the moth bit and hardly know what the book is really about though it seems to tell the tale of a little girl called ... Read full review
Contents
prologue | |
Chapter 1 | 3 |
Chapter 2 | 5 |
Chapter 3 | 16 |
Chapter 4 | 27 |
Chapter 5 | 39 |
Chapter 6 | 53 |
Chapter 7 | 66 |
Chapter 15 | 171 |
Chapter 16 | 178 |
Chapter 17 | 196 |
Chapter 18 | 200 |
Chapter 19 | 225 |
Chapter 20 | 248 |
Chapter 21 | 277 |
Chapter 22 | 303 |
Chapter 8 | 72 |
Chapter 9 | 75 |
Chapter 10 | 89 |
Chapter 11 | 99 |
Chapter 12 | 118 |
Chapter 13 | 122 |
Chapter 14 | 151 |
Chapter 23 | 314 |
Chapter 24 | 325 |
Chapter 25 | 332 |
Chapter 26 | 355 |
Afterword | 365 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
able already asked Auntie Barron beginning believe Bessie Bawtry Bessie's better Breaseborough called Chrissie clear Cotterhall course Cudworth dark daughter dead death Dora Dr Hawthorn earth Ellen expected eyes face Faro father feel felt Gaulden girl glass hand happy hard head hoped interest Joe Barron kind knew known light live London look managed married Miss Heald mother moved never Nick Nick Gaulden night once past perhaps play ring Road Robert Rose round says seemed seen South Yorkshire speak stay Steve story sure taken talk tell thing thought told took tried turn waiting walk waste watch woman women wonder Yorkshire young
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Peppered Moth A Harvest book |
| Author | Margaret Drabble |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0156007193, 9780156007191 |
| Length | 369 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |