In the Time of the Butterflies [B1505]

1995 PB in nice clean condition. On a deserted mountain road in the Dominican Republic in 1960, three young women from a pious Catholic family were assassinated after visiting their husbands who had been jailed as suspected rebel leaders. The Mirabal sisters, thus martyred, became mythical figures in their country, where they are known as Las Mariposas (the butterflies). Three decades later, Julia Alvarez, daughter of the Dominican Republic and author of the acclaimed How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, brings the Mirabal sisters back to life in this extraordinary novel. Each of the sisters speaks in her own voice; beginning as young girls in the 1940s, their stories vary from hair ribbons to gun-running to prison torture. Their story is framed by their surviving sister who tells her own tale of suffering and dedication to the memory of Las Mariposas. This inspired portrait of four women is a haunting statement about the human cost of political oppression, and is destined to take its place alongside Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Allende's The House of the Spirits as one of the great 20th-century Latin American novels.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "The amazing true story of four sisters - "the butterflies" - who become the face of the revolution against Dominican Republic dictator Trujillo. Loved the style of alternating chapters from each sister throughout so you get their individual stories and motivations for action. Heartbreaking but also inspirational."; "Beautiful feminine strong. The heartbreaking story of 3 women in a man's world, cut down for their defiance. The backdrop of the Dominican Republic in the 60's and Trujillo's dictatorship is a chilling portrait of the realities of tyranny."; "crying too much to really gather my thoughts, an incredible story about even more incredible women."; "You know at the start how the book will end, but the story manages to evoke a hope in you that it will end differently. It is well written and has gotten me very interested in learning more about the Dominican Republic and its history."