Any idea what this book is?

[MrsSpoon]

I was speaking to expat on a book thread last night and was reminded of a book I have read fairly recently (or at least I think it was a book) where a girl leaves home with some of her mother's silk worms in a box and IIRC has a traumatic time and all the silk worms die.

My intial thought was that it was Memoirs of a Geisha but today I don't think so.

I have that book and now you have me searching through my bookcase looking for its title they move and start move silkworms dont they

Oh, glad I'm not just imagining it then. I think they did start more silkworms after that.

I think it's the Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan...no, it's not, it's Middlesex. By Jeffrey Wossname. It's not that the silkworms die in a traumatic experience; she's not allowed to take them into the US because they are classified either as living organisms and/or as parasites.

Is he really called Jeffrey Wossname MI????

his last name is Eugenides he wrote the virgin suicides but middlesex isnt the book I was thinking of but I cant find it

I've read Middlesex but I didn't think it was Middlesex. I haven't read the Bonesetter's Daughter (althought it is in my to be read mountain) so it's not that.

Seem to remember some mention of the silk worms being smelly.

Ah, just looked up Middlesex on the net MI, you could very well be right I had forgotten about the grandparents (?) coming over from Italy, they didn't allow them on the boat?

By them I mean the silk worms.

i thought in this book they started growing them in sheds again and she was in love with someone

i thought in this book they started growing them in sheds again and she was in love with someone

sniff, the book I am thinking on IIRC they did start growing/breeding them again. I also thought the silk worms were more central to the story than I thought they would have been in Middlesex. Also I read Middlesex a few years back and thought this silk worms business was in a more recent book, however my memory is awful so this doesn't count for much.

Also did the silk worms not belong to the girl's mother or something, I thought she took them after her mother died?

yes the silkworms were what the book was about I cant believe I cant find it

sniff, do you mean Middlesex?

It's still bugging me and I am now seeing sense in keeping books, even although I rarely re-read, at least I could check this sort of thing out!

Doh, sorry Sniff, just re-read your post, you're not meaning Middlesex.

It's in Middlesex. It is.

I think its Middlesex too

Please EB, otherwise I'm going to end up buying another copy on Amazon just to put my mind at rest!

There was an awful lot about tulips in Middlesex.

I think I've read this book as well - I've read Middlesex but I don't think that was it - could be wrong - have useless memory nowadays - but I thought it was an oriental type of book - maybe one of the Amy Tan ones

ok, I have Middlesex here in front of me...
p4 my grandmother desdemona got her silkworm box
p20 (flashback) desdemona was in her silkworm cocoonery
p25 her brother goes off to sell silkworms at the market
p43 she went inside to say her goodbyes to the silkworms...picked a coccon off a branch and put it in her pocket
p63 start of chapter 'the silk road' chinese legend about cocoon
p69 silkworm eggs wrapped in wedding corset
p82 silkwormn eggs on list of parasites, forced to dump them

obviously I'm paraphrasing and these are just a few examples

LOL and thank you so much EB!

I was just about to post this as more confirmation of the silk worms.

It must have been Middlesex afterall.

Have to hang my head in shame - Earlybird - you are right - you clever thinG!