Moth: One of the Observer's 'Ten Debut Novelists' of 2021

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Pupils at Holbrook School in Coventry used Readers Theatre to read and perform the peppered moth’s life cycle – amazing! An unbelievably awesome collection of fifty true stories, The Moth is the first book that I've read that I can unabashedly, enthusiastically, recommend to absolutely anyone and everyone. Far surpassing a giant bag of Hershey's Miniatures, this genuinely has something for everyone.

Otter class at Braeburn Primary Academy used Moth in their lessons about adaptation and evolution, and created these beautiful non-fiction diagrams Remember to submit your questions for me via the Great Science Share! I look forward to answering them! Moth Hall of Fame The prose was lyrical and courageous, championing Alma's father for his dedication to seeing women as human beings. But Razak did not shy away from depicting the downside of a non-misogynistic patriarch during a time of widespread violence either. Complexity and nuance, yes please! This is but one example of many.

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Everything I experienced – from the architecture, people, landscape, colour (the food!), the places of worship and daily religious rituals – is filtered into the novel’s minutiae.“ Moth is at times a very challenging read posing many questions to the reader and offering insights into a world that is far beyond the comprehension of many of us. There is strength and a beauty in Melody Razak’s narrative. It really is quite difficult to believe that this is a debut novel. Her attention to detail, the dialogue, the sense of time and place is really quite remarkable.

Moths that feed on cloth will also feed on bookbindings, decaying organic material (which includes paper), and mold. A tumultous history of the partition of British India in 1947 into 2 independent dominions, the East Muslim majority Pakistan and the West Hindu majority India, we followed a family who went through this harrowing event as they are torn apart from each other. With multiple narrative, we start with the arranged marriage of a precocious Alma who are set to get married to a boy during the political unrest brewing in the community and the increasing violent confrontations between Hindu and Muslim. Though reluctant for the marriage, Bappu and Ma (Alma's parents) decided it was the safest choice for Alma as many women and children are violated cruelly during this time. But when the engagement breaks due to Alma's rigged initiative to change Alma's horoscope, the family was forced apart and ensue a tragic separation and tragey befalls Alma. By the 20th century, bookbinding materials had developed a high resistance against damage by various types of book-boring insects. [4] Many museums and archives in possession of materials vulnerable to booklouse damage employ pest control methods to manage existing infestations and make use of climate control to prevent the growth of potential booklouse food sources. [5] Other book-eating insects [ edit ] Beetles [ edit ] Beech Class at Christ Church Walshaw used Moth as one of their @clpe1 Power of Reading books. They designed their own moths after listening to the description and then wrote poetry based on what they read. Wow! I discovered The Moth phenomenon, not in its original format or the podcast, but as this book. It happened through complete serendipity in a Dublin bookshop a year ago - the type of real-life serendipity which algorithms make so hard to come by online. Somehow, it called out to me, and I'm glad I listened to my gut and bought the book, as it was honestly one of the few life-altering books in my life. Plus, it led me to discover the wonderful podcast.There are also rites of passage and social history elements to the story, which is at heart a family story. The main protagonists are a prosperous Brahmin family in which the main protagonist Alma and her tomboyish younger sister Roop grow up. Other characters exist mainly to demonstrate the religious and cultural diversity of Delhi. Whilst it is Partition that drives the book forward, the focus is predominantly on the women. The Guardian review finishes by saying: With its unflinching focus on violence against women, her strong, captivating debut tells a story that is at once firmly rooted in a time and place and yet pressingly relevant to the here and now. Year 5 and 6 pupils at West Park Primary School were tasked with retelling the story of the peppered moth as a Shakespearean sonnet

It was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novels, and is quite an impressive debut, mostly set in Delhi at the time of the partition that created independent India and Pakistan. And this feeling of things falling apart is very dominant in the book. Our focus is a Brahmin family, mother and father both lecturers at the local university. This immediately tells you something about the family at that time, and the mother experiences plenty of discrimination because she is not a man. The family is preparing for the wedding of their young daughter, Alma, a wedding they are not sure is a good idea but which they feel they need to proceed with to protect her. Because all around them, the threat of violence is continually growing as Partition approaches.My late friend Allan Segal, who made television documentaries--including a famous one about India’s partition and independence for Granada's End of Empire series--blamed England for the unimaginable violence that ensued, following its hasty 1947 withdrawal from its former colony. The divide-and-conquer policies initiated by the British East India Company and continued under the Raj fomented radical nationalism among Hindus and Muslims. Harbison, Brad (4 August 2015). "A Termite-Damaged Book...Or Is It?". Pest Control Technology . Retrieved 20 June 2019.

Crew, Bec (August 25, 2014). "How Book Scorpions Tend to Your Dusty Tomes". Scientific American . Retrieved 20 June 2019. She is a talented writer but this book is not for me, though I know I will think about this novel quite often. I think having read it and understood the gravity of the events that took place during this period, I can't help but be grateful to Razak for illuminating and explicitly showing the horrors that the people in this part of the world, specifically the women, had to endure. I can appreciate and validate that I know that this author has done extensive research into this topic, which from what I can tell would not be easy, but has many stories still to tell. Melody Razak has brought the terror of many during Partition so completely alive. The treatment & abuse of women on both sides is incomprehensible. When she began writing Moth the concept of freedom was very important to her story The book itself is, by the standards of this year’s Desmond Elliott’s Prize pretty conventional – one that gains its strength from both the harrowing portrayal it gives of the period of history it portrays (India at the time of partition in 1947-8) and the memorable cast of characters in the Delhi household which lives through the trauma of that time, rather than so much from the relatively conventional if atmospheric writing. Their two daughters are Alma – fourteen years old, prone to wearing a red apple clip. Much of the early part of the book is implicitly told from her viewpoint, giving it something of a young adult feel initially. Due to concerns for the safety of unmarried girls, Daddee Ma arranges an overly hasty marriage for her, including clumsily faking her astrological chart. Alma herself is somewhat obsessed with the world of Djinn’s and gods and of legends and transfers some of this to imagined visions of her promised husband.Everything I experienced – from the architecture, people, landscape, colour (the food!), the places of worship and daily religious rituals – is filtered into the novel’s minutiae." This one really explores not only the cultural divide that was perpetrated by the British that led to serious violence. Equally it explores gender roles within the different cultures and how even educated women struggled in a male dominated society. It also touches upon the caste system and its impact on different people's fortunes. I felt like I learned a lot but was also touched by the different generations of this family and the impact of their decisions as they rippled through the most turbulent time of their lives. I read this book due to its longlisting for the 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novelists, although I had been aware of it as it featured on the influential Observer Best Debut Novelists of the Year feature for 2021 alongside such other successful and impressive books as “Little Scratch” (2021 Desmond Elliott Prize shortlist), “Open Water” (2021 Desmond Elliott Prize longlist, Costa First Novel Award winner), “Lear Wife” and “Assembly” (also on the 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize and for me the best novel of 2021). Ma/Tanisi was orphaned when young, and bought up by her Uncle on a houseboat in Kashmir where she learnt the Urdu she now teaches (both at University and to the sons of a well known local Muslim – both positions becoming increasingly untenable) and of which she, with her blue eyes, still dreams as well as remembering her infatuation with her Uncle which she seems to find echoed more in the father of her charges than in her husband. Tanisi and her Uncle are (I think) of the Pir Ali caste (which I think from some research is associated with the poet Tagore and seen as heretical by pure Brahmins).