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The Behaviour Of Moths

Desmond Elliott Prize, 2009

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781844084883

Price: £9.99

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From her lookout on the first floor, Ginny watches and waits for her younger sister to return to the crumbling mansion that was once their idyllic childhood home. Vivien has not set foot in the house since she left, forty-seven years ago; Ginny, the reclusive moth expert, has rarely ventured outside it.

But with Vivien’s arrival, dark, unspoken secrets surface. Told in Ginny’s unforgettable voice, this debut novel tells a disquieting story of two sisters and the ties that bind – sometimes a little too tightly.

Reviews

** 'A rewarding read. Latent rivalries resurface as the sisters secretly question which of them has the greater grip on reality in this tantalising family mystery.
Waterstones Books Quarterly
** 'The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams is a debut and new and emphatic voice; this story of the reunion of two batty sisters in their huge and crumbling house completely grips and the lepidopteran theme is totally convincing.
Rodney Troubridge, Waterstone’s
** 'Adam s' compelling story unfurls over a single weekend as two sisters, together again in their sixties in their dilapidated family home, are forced to confront the consequences fo the terrible chain of events that began with Vivien's near-fatal childh
PSYCHOLOGIES
** 'Adams succeeds in carefully building up an atmosphere of penumbral suspense, creeping towards a tense climax.
LITERARY REVIEW