New novels from Emma Knight and Anita Desai explore the dual identities of mothers

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Two new novels tackle themes of motherhood and family secrets. First, in Emma Knight's The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, 18-year-old Pen has just arrived as a student at the University of Edinburgh. For Pen's whole life, she's sensed that her parents were hiding something from her – and she believes the answers might lie in Scotland. In today's episode, Knight joins NPR's Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about her debut novel. They discuss the first character that came to Knight – and her use of the octopus as a metaphor for early motherhood. Then in Rosarita, the latest novel from Anita Desai, a strange encounter at a park in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, throws the protagonist's family history into question. The story follows Bonita as she tries to untangle her mother's past. In today's episode, Desai speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the way her character finds pieces of India in Mexico and the dual lives of women.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. My mom had a whole life before I came around,
0:08.1	and she continues to have a life outside of me. In fact, there's probably a whole side of my mom
0:14.4	that I've never experienced. That's one of those stupidly obvious things that takes a while to sink in.
0:21.3	For me and for a lot of people.
0:23.5	And it's the running theme between the two books we've got for you today.
0:26.6	In a bit, we'll hear about a woman trying to unfurl the mystery of her own mother.
0:31.2	But first, Emma Knight's debut novel is a coming-of-age story about a young woman named Penn,
0:35.7	who is a new student at the University of
0:37.7	Edinburgh. It's titled The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus. And in this interview with
0:42.9	NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, Knight talks about how the octopus is actually a metaphor for early
0:48.9	motherhood. That's ahead. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:56.6	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:01.1	On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:06.9	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:10.5	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:15.7	In the opening pages of Emma Knight's debut novel, she describes a typical student breakfast at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
1:25.1	Scrambled eggs too puffy to be true, she writes. Also baked beans with a faint
1:31.0	aftertaste of ash, pliable triangles of potato bread, and something darkly sausage-like. Well, I had to
1:40.6	smile reading this, having been a student at a British university myself back in the 90s,
1:46.2	along with Breakfast, Knight's novel takes on subjects of motherhood and female friendship and first love.
1:53.3	The novel is the life cycle of the common octopus.
1:57.4	Emma Knight, welcome.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.