The Butterfly Collector

This story takes us to events in New South Wales in 1868 in the rural town of Morpeth and later in the city of Sydney in 1922.

In 1868, Theodora Breckenridge, one of four recently-orphaned sisters, is passionate about nature and art and is excited when she realises she may have discovered a species of butterfly in her late mother’s garden that was previously unknown in Australia. At the same time Clarrie, a maid and new mother, desperately needs a job to help pay for care of her baby, Charlie, and Theodora comes to the rescue and again later when Charlie’s life is in danger.

In 1922, budding journalist, Verity Binks, receives a mysterious package containing a butterfly costume and an invitation to a masquerade ball. Intrigued, she takes up the offer and is rewarded with a commission to write up the history of a benevolent foundation that supports unwed mothers. However, she doesn’t get very far as impediments are put in her way at every turn as she comes to discover her own family links to dubious practices and deceits.

Readers need to be aware that this title is a little misleading. Yes, butterflies do feature to a certain extent but the real heart and emotional punch of the novel lies elsewhere.

While the fiction blends well with aspects of real history and characters, it suffers from the usual disruptive issues of a dual narrative and two separate and distinctive themes that could form the basis of novels in their own right but that become twisted with too many secrets and knots.

A dedicated novel that primarily focussed on Theodora’s discovery of the American species of butterfly, her struggle for recognition and her relationships with other artists or collectors or dismissive family members would provide ample material for an interesting read, and another book that explored the despicable business of baby-farming and illegal adoptions that took place in Australia throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries would also have been an excellent plotline. Combined together they are a less successful jumble.

(With many thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.)
 

(Book site links to come later.)

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