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Black Butterflies
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 8 hrs
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Publisher's Summary
SHORT-LISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION. A timeless story of strife and hope set during the conflict in the Balkans in the early '90s—a searing debut novel about a woman who faces the war on her doorstep with courage, fierceness, and an unshakable belief in the power of art.
Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect makeshift barricades, splitting the city into ethnic enclaves. Each morning, the people who live there—whether Muslim, Croat, or Serb—push the barriers aside.
When violence erupts and becomes, finally, unavoidable, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety in England. She stays behind, reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a few weeks. As the city falls under siege, everything she loves about her home is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops. Yet Zora and her friends find ways to rebuild themselves, over and over. Told with breathtaking immediacy, this is a story of disintegration, resilience, and hope—a stirring debut from a commanding new voice.
What the critics say
"A moving, compelling, deeply human novel about love, hope, and resilience in a city under siege. Everyone should read it.”—Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
“An astonishingly good debut . . . Zora’s story broke my heart, and I hope it will open the hearts of all those who read it, at a time when history is destined to repeat itself.”—Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties
“Black Butterflies is incredible, a must-read. There are few novels that stay with you after the final page is read, but this is one. Brutal yet also uplifting, immersive and real, it shows what the human spirit is capable of.”—Karen Angelico, author of Everything We Are