Here’s a little Teaser Tuesday, from Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. I picked this one up because I loved Atkinson’s Life After Life so much, and I’m completely engrossed. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight until I finish the last 100 pages. I’m obsessed with Ruby Lennox’s hilarious narration, and I love Atkinson’s creative descriptions. The passage below is one of my favorites.
Nell is trying to cut up invisible food on the tablecloth. Bunty is banging things around in the kitchen, thumping down pots and pans and slamming cupboard doors, like a woman possessed. I know she is trying to say something to George so why doesn’t she just speak, for heaven’s sake?
But no, nothing as simple as that for Our Lady of the Kitchen, who is pretending to dish out pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots but is really shooting out steel tension wires from her fingertips. They make little noises as they hit the walls of the bedrooms, the living-room, the front of the Shop, the occasional Pet. Ping! Ping! Ping! Until the whole house is criss-crossed with the metal web of Bunty’s thoughts.
(page 160)
