What are silverfish?

Search: silverfish

Why: In The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue:

We threw ourselves into our books and papers. We read the Greeks in translation, Clytemnestra in her grief, Antigone's honor in a thin coating of earth. Grendel prowling the bleak Danish night. The pilgrims of Canterbury and lives on the road. Maxims of Pope, the rich clot of humanity in all of Shakespeare, Milton's angels and aurochs, Gulliver big, little, yahoo. Wild ecstasies of Keats. Shelley's Frankenstein. Rip Van Winkle sleeping it off. Speck insisted on Austen, Eliot, Emerson, Thoreau, both Brontës, Alcott, Nesbitt, Rossetti, both Brownings, and especially Alice down the rabbit hole. We worked our way right up to the present age, chewing through the books like a pair of silverfish.

Answer: Little wingless insects that eat glue:

Silverfish consume matter that contains polysaccharides, such as starches and dextrin in adhesives. These include glue, book bindings, paper, photos, sugar, hair, carpet, clothing and dandruff. Silverfish can also cause damage to books and tapestries. Other substances that may be eaten include cotton, linen, silk and synthetic fibers, and dead insects or even its own exuvia (moulted exoskeleton). During famine, a silverfish may even attack leatherware and synthetic fabrics. Silverfish can live for a year or more without eating.

(Book damaged by silverfish)

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: How bad is it that I have no idea who Nesbitt or Rossetti are? I assume "Nesbitt" is Edith / E. Nesbit (even though Donohue spells it with 2 Ts). She wrote over 40 noverls for children and directly or indirectly influenced peeps like J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis, who even mentions her Bastable Children in his Narnia book The Magician's Nephew.

"Rosetti" must be Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a 19th century English poet (and painter). Late in life:

Rossetti acquired an obsession for exotic animals, and in particular wombats. He would frequently ask friends to meet him at the "Wombat's Lair" at the London Zoo in Regent's Park, and would spend hours there himself. Finally, in September 1869, he was to acquire the first of two pet wombats. This short-lived wombat, named "Top," was often brought to the dinner table and allowed to sleep in the large centrepiece of the dinner table during meals.

This fascination with exotic animals continued throughout Rossetti's life, finally culminating in the purchase of a llama and a toucan which Rossetti would dress in a cowboy hat and persuade it to ride the llama round the dining table for his amusement.

The more you know.