It is November 25, 1960, and the bodies of three beautiful,
convent-educated sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at
the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican
Republic. El Caribe, the official newspaper, reports their deaths
as an accident. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor
does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents
of Gen. Raphael Leonidas Trujillo's dictatorship. It doesn't have
to. Everyone knows of Las Mariposas - "The Butterflies." Now, three
decades later, Julia Alvarez, also a daughter of the Dominican
Republic and long haunted by these sisters, immerses us in a
tangled and dangerous moment in Hispanic Caribbean history to tell
their story in the only way it can truly be understood - through
fiction. In this brilliantly characterized novel, the voices of all
four sisters - Minerva, Patria, Maria Teresa, and Dede - speak
across the decades, to tell their own stories - from hair ribbons
to gunrunning to prison torture - and to describe the everyday
horrors of life under Trujillo's rule. The Butterflies were
extraordinary women. Minerva, once the object of the dictator's
desire, had dared to publicly slap his face. Devout Patria found
her calling to the uprising through the church. Alluring - and vain
- Maria Teresa joined in pursuit of romance. Only Dede, the
practical one, the most diligent in her duty to family and
tradition, kept apart. And only she survived to see that their
names were remembered. Now, through the art and magic of Julia
Alvarez's imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again. And
Dede joins them as a heroine of equal courage.
General
Imprint: |
Algonquin Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
December 2009 |
First published: |
2010 |
Authors: |
Julia Alvarez
|
Dimensions: |
209 x 140 x 25mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
336 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-56512-976-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
1-56512-976-8 |
Barcode: |
9781565129764 |
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