The Behaviour of Moths: Poppy Adams

With a background as a scientist and science documentary maker for the BBC, it's not surprising that Adams' debut novel revolves around characters with a nose for biology. The subject matter must have been a familiar theme for her to hold onto in the previously untested terrain of writing. As a first time author, Adams has constructed an impressive and intriguing tale about the strains and secrets of a family that was never quite whole.

The Behaviour of Moths is a contemporary story about two very different (and now old and arthritic) sisters, who are reunited after decades spent apart. They balance cups of tea and circle one another warily in the sinister hallways of their family home, still cluttered with entomological specimens and memories of times past - the sudden death of their mother, the quiet obsessiveness of their father, and the strange pact that they made when they were young.

Ginny, a timid and supposedly world famous lepidopterist, narrates the events set over a weekend, which are supplemented by an extensive array of childhood flashbacks. She may or may not be telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about her family's past and present. Her sister Vivi's return to Bulburrow after a pointed absence is the catalyst for the central mystery of the novel. Not that the book's a mystery, but there's a definite compulsion to keep turning the pages in the hope that you'll find out what's really going on.

The novel's resolution is certainly eventful, but doesn't give the definitive and neat answers that some more fastidious readers will be hoping for. Nevertheless, this is a skilful and appealing novel worthy of comparisons with the likes of A.S. Byatt.

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