In the Time of the Butterflies

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, internationally bestselling author and literary icon Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies is "beautiful, heartbreaking and alive ... a lyrical work of historical fiction based on the story of the Mirabal sisters, revolutionary heroes who had opposed and fought against Trujillo." (Concepcin de Len, New York Times) Alvarezs new novel, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, is coming April 2, 2024. Pre-order now! It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Lenidas Trujillos dictatorship. It doesnt have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposasthe Butterflies. In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters--Minerva, Patria, Mara Teresa, and the survivor, Ded--speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from secret crushes to gunrunning, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillos rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarezs imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human costs of political oppression. "Alvarez helped blaze the trail for Latina authors to break into the literary mainstream, with novels like In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garca Girls Lost Their Accents winning praise from critics and gracing best-seller lists across the Americas."Francisco Cant, The New York Times Book Review "This Julia Alvarez classic is a must-read for anyone of Latinx descent." Popsugar.com "A gorgeous and sensitive novel . . . A compelling story of courage, patriotism and familial devotion." People "Shimmering . . . Valuable and necessary." Los Angeles Times "A magnificent treasure for all cultures and all time. St. Petersburg Times "Alvarez does a remarkable job illustrating the ruinous effect the 30-year dictatorship had on the Dominican Republic and the very real human cost it entailed."Cosmopolitan.com