Abomination (novel)
Encyclopedia
Abomination is a novel by the author Robert Swindells
, dealing with themes of religious extremism, adolescence, bullying, and relationships, as well as integrating the intriguing question of what its title refers to.
Plot
Martha is a 12 year old girl. She leads a life that is anything but normal. Martha and her parents belong to a strict religious group called the Righteous. The Righteous is a religion that believes in the God that was portrayed in the Old Testament, the God who killed, the God who brought disease. Martha hates this religion. Because of its rules Martha is not allowed any trendy clothes, no television and no computer or fancy gadgets...and no friends. Martha wants to have all of these things but she cannot. Martha instead lives with homemade clothes for school and for home. Her school life is worse than her home life. She is chased home every night by Simon (the school bully) and his gang. While they chase her they are all chanting "Raggedy-Ann, Raggedy-Ann we will snag you if we can". The only electrical item she owns is a radio, which she only has the odd listen to. Because Martha has none of these privileges, she has no friends.
However, Martha's luck changes when a new boy Scott arrives and smiles at her, which in Martha's case is a huge hope that they could be friends. But to Martha's disappointment she is chased home by him with Simon and the rest of his gang. Later on though, Scott sees Martha looking in her bag for something. He asked her what she is looking for, she tells him she has forgotten her ruler. Scott lends Martha his ruler but when he gets it back one of Simon's gang tells him that he should burn it but he ignores her. As Scott becomes closer to Martha, his best friend Simon starts to notice, so he starts bullying Scott as well as Martha. Scott's and Martha's relationship grows stronger and Martha eventually has the courage to tell Scott about abomination, her nephew. She also reveals about her father beating her and how he kicked out her older sister Mary for having a child before marriage.
However, upon her discovery of her family's moving, Martha rebels against it, and is sent to her room for days. However, she manages to send Scott a message, not to Scott himself, but pinned to a fence outside her house, taking a large risk of being caught by her parents. The note tells Scott not to knock, but instead to wait for Mary until Monday. She waits for days but without reply.
At the same time, Scott actually receives a reply, however Mary calls him sick. Scott decides to talk like Martha would, mentioning the way Mary calls Martha "Marfa", like her best friend Annette, and mentions a fountain in Birmingham, where her last postcard was sent from. Scott tries calling, however he knew Martha's father would not listen, so he repeats the same message three times so that her father would memorize it and angrily shouts it in front of Martha, knowing the message is from Scott. Eventually Scott decides to go to see Martha, but is discouraged when he sees Martha in a car; however it was Mary and Annette's car - Mary rescued Abomination after all.
In the last chapter it is revealed that the child is now called Jim and that Martha actually buys her own clothes now; it is also stated that when she learns to use the Internet, she will e-mail Scott.
Robert Swindells
Robert E. "Bob" Swindells is an English author of children's and young adult literature.- Biography :Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, Swindells worked for a newspaper after leaving school aged 15. He served with the Royal Air Force and held various jobs before training as a primary school teacher...
, dealing with themes of religious extremism, adolescence, bullying, and relationships, as well as integrating the intriguing question of what its title refers to.
Plot
Martha is a 12 year old girl. She leads a life that is anything but normal. Martha and her parents belong to a strict religious group called the Righteous. The Righteous is a religion that believes in the God that was portrayed in the Old Testament, the God who killed, the God who brought disease. Martha hates this religion. Because of its rules Martha is not allowed any trendy clothes, no television and no computer or fancy gadgets...and no friends. Martha wants to have all of these things but she cannot. Martha instead lives with homemade clothes for school and for home. Her school life is worse than her home life. She is chased home every night by Simon (the school bully) and his gang. While they chase her they are all chanting "Raggedy-Ann, Raggedy-Ann we will snag you if we can". The only electrical item she owns is a radio, which she only has the odd listen to. Because Martha has none of these privileges, she has no friends.
However, Martha's luck changes when a new boy Scott arrives and smiles at her, which in Martha's case is a huge hope that they could be friends. But to Martha's disappointment she is chased home by him with Simon and the rest of his gang. Later on though, Scott sees Martha looking in her bag for something. He asked her what she is looking for, she tells him she has forgotten her ruler. Scott lends Martha his ruler but when he gets it back one of Simon's gang tells him that he should burn it but he ignores her. As Scott becomes closer to Martha, his best friend Simon starts to notice, so he starts bullying Scott as well as Martha. Scott's and Martha's relationship grows stronger and Martha eventually has the courage to tell Scott about abomination, her nephew. She also reveals about her father beating her and how he kicked out her older sister Mary for having a child before marriage.
However, upon her discovery of her family's moving, Martha rebels against it, and is sent to her room for days. However, she manages to send Scott a message, not to Scott himself, but pinned to a fence outside her house, taking a large risk of being caught by her parents. The note tells Scott not to knock, but instead to wait for Mary until Monday. She waits for days but without reply.
At the same time, Scott actually receives a reply, however Mary calls him sick. Scott decides to talk like Martha would, mentioning the way Mary calls Martha "Marfa", like her best friend Annette, and mentions a fountain in Birmingham, where her last postcard was sent from. Scott tries calling, however he knew Martha's father would not listen, so he repeats the same message three times so that her father would memorize it and angrily shouts it in front of Martha, knowing the message is from Scott. Eventually Scott decides to go to see Martha, but is discouraged when he sees Martha in a car; however it was Mary and Annette's car - Mary rescued Abomination after all.
In the last chapter it is revealed that the child is now called Jim and that Martha actually buys her own clothes now; it is also stated that when she learns to use the Internet, she will e-mail Scott.