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About the
Book, In the Time of the Butterflies
• Synopsis from the author’s website (www.juliaalvarez.com):
“In The
Time of the Butterflies
(Chapel Hill: Algonquin
Books, 1994)
In 1960, a few
months after my family fled the dictatorship of Trujillo in
the Dominican Republic, the three Mirabal sisters were brutally
murdered. Founders of the underground, las Mariposas (the
Butterflies, their code name) had inspired resistance cells
throughout the country. (My father had joined one of these
cells, which was cracked by the Secret Police in the summer
of 1960—the reason we were forced to flee.) This novel tells
the Mirabal story through the lens of fiction. Needless to
say, this book is one I felt compelled to write. The day of
the murder of the Mirabal sisters, November 25th, has been
declared by the United Nations, International Day Against
Violence Against Women. I'd love it if we began a tradition
of wearing a butterfly on that day!”
• Book Review from
Library Journal by Rebecca S. Kelm, Northern Kentucky University
Library, Highland Heights. August 1994:
”Alvarez's award-winning first novel (How the Garcia Girls
Lost Their Accents, LJ 5/1/91) is more than matched by her
second. Butterflies is based on the lives of the four Mirabel
sisters (code name: "Mariposas," that is, butterflies),
three of whom were martyred in 1960 during the liberation
of the Dominican Republic from the dictator Trujillo. Through
the surviving sister, Dede, as well as memories of Minerva,
Patria, and Maria Teresa, we discover the compelling forces
behind each sister's role in the struggle for freedom. As
Alvarez says "A novel is not, after all, a historical
document, but a way to travel through the human heart."
Though murder, torture, and imprisonment are ever-present,
she wisely choses to focus on the personal lives of these
young wives and mothers, full of love, beauty, and, especially,
hope. Highly recommended for its luminescence and relevance.”
• About
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