When They Burned the Butterfly
Sixteen-year-old Adeline Siow and her single mother live together in 1972 Singapore. Mother is part owner of a high-end department store. Beautiful, bratty and smart, Adeline attends a private girls’ school. She and her mother have a unique talent. Through thoughts and hand motions, they can make fire emerge from their fingertips. Mother dies suddenly in a massive home fire when Adeline is away. Soon Adeline learns that her mother led a secret life as leader of twenty or more Red Butterfly girls, each of whom came from poverty and abuse but now can wield the fire power. Adeline’s mother was the “conduit” for the Red Butterfly goddess to interact with the real world. Adeline is the only survivor with her mother’s bloodline to sustain the fire goddess’s power.
Wen-Yi Lee masterfully transports readers into the chaotic multi-cultural island nation, just seven years old. Wealth and poverty run side by side, and unclaimed bodies float in waterways. Male-centric gangs with other magic or special skills originating in far off places grab for women, drugs, territory, and power. They seek to crush competition and scoff at the Red Butterfly girls. The prose and pace of this fantasy novel match the quiet tiny flames that grow into all-consuming hot rages, then dies down before the next burst of energy and action. Intricate sub-plots explore police activities, betrayal for money or favors, family relationships, and peculiar drugs. Adeline’s search for Mother’s killer and for her place in the Red Butterfly gang takes her on a stunning, sometimes tragic, journey from loner schoolgirl to brilliant, avenging fire-wielding leader and sapphic lover. Her growth will make any reader, female or male, cheer. Highly recommended.
