Sound of Butterflies [Paperback]

Rachael King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2008

It is 1903 when Thomas Edgar says goodbye to his young wife Sophie and embarks on a journey to the Amazon, where he dreams of finding a mythical butterfly that will make both his name and his fortune. His dreams change, however, soon after his arrival in Brazil ...Months later, Thomas arrives home, thin, sick and, worst of all, unable or unwilling to speak. Frustrated by his silence, Sophie takes increasingly drastic measures to uncover the truth about what happened to her husband while he was away. But as she sorts through Thomas's diaries and boxes of exquisite butterflies, it becomes clear that the truth may not be easy to bear. 'The Sound of Butterflies fuses Edwardian gentility with obsession, murder and a glimpse of the giddy excess of the Brazilian rubber boom ...Told in prose as opulent as one of Thomas's specimens, it's a convincing debut' Observer

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this rich debut from New Zealander King, amateur naturalist Thomas Edgar leaves his young wife, Sophie, behind, and sets off from turn-of-the-20th-century England for the Brazilian Amazon. His quarry is an elusive butterfly that he hopes to be the first to find and name for his wife—the Papilio sophia. Thomas returns to England many months later physically weak, obviously disturbed and unable to speak. Frustrated and concerned, Sophie desperately seeks the cause of his turmoil. Her search reveals a world of corruption and violence, spearheaded by the rubber tycoon, Mr. Santos, who bankrolled Thomas and his fellows. King employs Apocalypse Now levels of depravity to get across the greedy, exploitative nature of the rubber trade at the beginning of the 20th century; it's enough to make the protagonist mute, and it may have a similar effect on the squeamish reader. But the violent twists are more shocks to the system than to the plot, which founders when furthest from Thomas and Sophie. There's plenty of life in their strained marriage, though, making this a noteworthy debut, and King a writer to watch. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Rachael King has worked in radio, television and magazines, and played bass guitar in several bands. The recipient of the 2005/6 Lilian Ida Smith Award, she lives in Wellington, New Zealand. This is her first novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 351 pages
• Publisher: Picador Paperbacks (April 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330449176
• ISBN-13: 978-0330449175
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,390,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Debut, July 7, 2008

By 

Jeannie Mancini "vernefan" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sound of Butterflies: A Novel (Hardcover)

Wow! I just finished the last page, and that was the word that came out of my mouth. For a first novel, this author should be proud. This is an incredible story of one man's harrowing journey through the intense Amazon jungle to pursue his dream, collecting rare and unidentified butterflies. As you begin the story, you think this is going to be the main theme, a group of male naturalists battling the sweltering heat and bombardment of stinging and biting insects extraordinaire, enduring all hardships to capture their prized specimens. But oh how wrong that assumption is. This story starts slow, and rather meandering, increasingly getting eerier and eerier, the suspense building quietly and with a level of intensity that has the reader constantly on the edge. It soon becomes apparent that there is more than meets the eye out there for our hero Thomas, in a jungle ripe with not just the flora and fauna these men seek. We find much much more than colorful butterflies and howling monkeys. Oh yes,..mischief, mayhem, mysterious and monstrous acts unravel. I liked the back and forth strategy that the author puts in place by alternating what is happening both in Brazil for Thomas, and back in England with his lonely wife Sophia. It sets the pace to keep the suspense and allows both characters stories to become interesting. If you are tired of the same old plot lines and mundane novels that you pitch half way through, try this innovative and creative debut. You will not be disappointed. It's writing style finely crafted, and plot well rounded in story line and character depth. Bravo!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars almost 5 stars, February 4, 2008

By 

DiDi (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sound of Butterflies: A Novel (Hardcover)

As most of the other reviews already state, it is overall a wonderful book. The characters are interesting and the story moves forward making you want to know what comes next. The only critique I have is that I felt that towards the end it just all got a bit cluttered. It felt to me like the author was trying to resolve EVERYTHING in a few pages. To me the end was rushed. But I did overall enjoy reading it and would recommend it to others.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and well constructed (ie I liked it!), December 6, 2007

By 

Robert Oliver (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sound of Butterflies: A Novel (Hardcover)

For some reason I wasn't expecting this to be a historical novel when I picked it up, but I was quickly drawn into the period it recreates. I definitely was captivated by the story of Thomas' search for a fabled butterfly (and the recognition and security it would bring him) and the story of Sophia's search to discover why her husband returned from Brasil a mute.

I was equally captured by how skillfully the author explored the growing autonomy of women in turn of the century England.

All the reviewers comment on the skill and beauty of the language so rather than talk about that I'll just point in their direction and wait for Rachael King's next novel to be published.