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The Butterfly Summer
What magic is this?
You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.
They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder ... and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.
This house is Nina Parr's birthright. It holds the truth about her family - and a chance to put everything right at last.
Harriet Evans. She brings you home.
Two things happen when you are a Parr girl: when you are ten, you are told about your future role.
The second thing that a Parr girl at some point must learn is harder to tell of.
It is a dark work indeed, the business of this house, hidden from the world.
You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.
They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder ... and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.
This house is Nina Parr's birthright. It holds the truth about her family - and a chance to put everything right at last.
Harriet Evans. She brings you home.
Two things happen when you are a Parr girl: when you are ten, you are told about your future role.
The second thing that a Parr girl at some point must learn is harder to tell of.
It is a dark work indeed, the business of this house, hidden from the world.
448 pages, Paperback
First published February 11, 2016
206 people are currently reading
2118 people want to read
About the author
Harriet Evans
103 books1,208 followersI was born in London and grew up there. I was very bookish, and had a huge imagination which used to cause me to get rather anxious at times. Now I know it's a good thing for a writer to have. I loved musicals, and playing imaginative games, and my Barbie perfume making kit. Most of all I loved reading. I read everything, but I also read lots of things over and over, which I think is so important.
At university I read Classical Studies, which is a great way of finding out that the world doesn't change much and people make the same mistakes but it's interesting to look at why. I was at Bristol, and i loved the city, making new friends, being a new person.
After university I came back to London and got a job in publishing. I loved working in publishing so much, and really felt for the first time in my life that when I spoke people understood what I was saying. Book people are good people. I became an editor after a few years, working with many bestselling novelists, and in 2009 I left to write full time.
I've written 13 novels and several short stories and one Quick Read, which is an excellent way of getting people into reading more. I've acquired a partner and two children along the way.
In 2019 we moved to Bath, out of London, and I am very happy there. We live opposite a hedgerow, and I can be boring about gardening, and there's room for my collection of jumpsuits and all our books. We have lots of books. Apart from anything else they keep the house warm. xxx
At university I read Classical Studies, which is a great way of finding out that the world doesn't change much and people make the same mistakes but it's interesting to look at why. I was at Bristol, and i loved the city, making new friends, being a new person.
After university I came back to London and got a job in publishing. I loved working in publishing so much, and really felt for the first time in my life that when I spoke people understood what I was saying. Book people are good people. I became an editor after a few years, working with many bestselling novelists, and in 2009 I left to write full time.
I've written 13 novels and several short stories and one Quick Read, which is an excellent way of getting people into reading more. I've acquired a partner and two children along the way.
In 2019 we moved to Bath, out of London, and I am very happy there. We live opposite a hedgerow, and I can be boring about gardening, and there's room for my collection of jumpsuits and all our books. We have lots of books. Apart from anything else they keep the house warm. xxx
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
Read
July 20, 2017DNF. Got 100+ pages in, just started to get strange and confusing. Too many books, so little time. Moving on.
Want to read
January 14, 2016I found out about this book today and I am all like:
September 4, 2020
3 Stars!
This was my first book for the Bookoplathon Readathon. This was a Chance Card for a book I wasn't overly excited to read.
With that in mind I still don't really know what to think of this as a whole. It took such a long time to get into, like a painfully long time and I don't know if the pay off was worth it.
There were some very heart warming and lovely moments, I'm also a fan of the discussion of Mark Duggan and still how relevant it is in todays current situations.
This was my first book for the Bookoplathon Readathon. This was a Chance Card for a book I wasn't overly excited to read.
With that in mind I still don't really know what to think of this as a whole. It took such a long time to get into, like a painfully long time and I don't know if the pay off was worth it.
There were some very heart warming and lovely moments, I'm also a fan of the discussion of Mark Duggan and still how relevant it is in todays current situations.
May 25, 2016
have been a fan of Harriet Evans books right since the beginning and especially enjoyed last year’s release A Place for Us and its follow up short story A Winterfold Christmas. Now Harriet takes on a new journey to a special, mysterious place which holds numerous secrets that have been passed down from generation to generation. This unique house Keepsake and its grounds are very difficult to find as the house prefers to remain hidden from the public allowing its residents both human and flora and fauna to flourish unnoticed by the outside world. But now the time is coming when Keepsake must reveal itself to someone who had no idea of its existence or the significance of the news she is about to hear. Nina Parr is about to discover a story/family legacy that has affected the women of the Parr household for hundreds of years and now she must be the one to put history to bed firmly for once and all or either embrace what so many struggled to cope with long before Nina was born.
The Butterfly Summer is a complex novel and shows how Harriet Evans writing has certainly matured and developed since her debut novel Going Home way back in 2005. I feel the author is moving into the more serious side of women’s fiction as her stories are becoming more in-depth whilst tackling current issues relevant to women in today’s society. These books haven’t the will they, won’t they factor between a man and woman at their centre coupled with usual fun and frolics which have become the norm in women’s fiction. No just as readers who have been with Harriet from the beginning are maturing so too is the author’s writing. In this case I will admit to finding the first half of the book very slow and at times hard going but once I made it through this section the book picked up pace and I found it much easier to keep track of everything that was going on.
The novel does move back and forth in time but in the beginning we met Nina Parr in 2008 on a day which didn’t start off too great and seems to get a bit worse as the past starts to rear its ugly head. Nina works in an office and finds the work tedious and boring. Her ultimate dream was to become a teacher but that never materialised but her love of books has never vanished as she spends lunchtimes ensconced deep in the National Library. This gives Nina a chance to get away from everything and immerse herself in another world for an hour at least. A chance encounter at the library with a woman sets in motion a series of events that will leave Nina’s life changed forever. Nina feels a connection to the library as her father had left her a lifelong membership to this place where Nina feels safe. I say left because Nina never knew her father – George Parr died on a jungle expedition to the Amazon which was researching rare and unusual butterflies. So Nina was brought up by her mother Delilah in a house split into flats. Her mother was not like other mothers and although Nina did have a good childhood the loss of her father and at times the emotional absence from her mother has left her feeling a longing or empty feeling deep inside. Coupled with this fact Nina is also dealing with her divorce from Sebastian, they met at UCL and theirs was a very quick romance that developed into marriage but one that didn’t last. Sebastian makes appearances now and again throughout the book but I didn’t warm to him at all and I found myself rushing through pages where he was featured. Nina clearly still holds some sort of flame for him but she can’t deal with it and pushes him away but this is not the crux of the story as there are far more important aspects to be focusing on. Initially you get the feeling that Nina is at a point in her life where something has to give the ties of the past particularly in relation to her parents are preventing her moving forward and she is at a crossroads where the decision she makes will determine the rest of her life.
Nina is also still missing the enigmatic woman who lived in the top floor flat of their house Mrs.Poll. Mrs.Poll was there when her mother was not she told her stories, cared for her and treated her like a daughter. A book called Nina and the Butterflies holds a special place in Nina’s heart and will be forever associated with Mrs.Poll. There is not a lot you can specifically say about this story without giving away crucial plot points. Surprises are thrown in when you least expect it and what you believed to be true you find yourself questioning at every corner. The author made excellent use of the past as an aid to explaining circumstances and events in the present and how characters came to be who they were or why they acted as they did. There was one character that shall remain nameless who just came across as an utter wimp with no guts or strength of character at all. This person was almost like a puppy wanting to do its best to please their new owner but the actions of said person in my mind left an awful lot to be desired and I felt Nina was too ready and willing to accept an explanation that was weak and which has led to unnecessary suffering.
The book had been moving along at a slow enough pace for me as there was a huge amount of setting up to do and then all of a sudden an event turned everything on its head and finally we got to the heart of the matter and I began to take more of a an interest in what was going on. Nina discovers there is a legacy, a heritage to which she has a right to as she is near to turning 26. Nina hears of the house Keepsake which is now rightfully hers, the question is does she really want it and all that it brings or is she happy to meander along in life a little bit lost and not quite happy with everything going on? Nina wasn’t a character that I especially warmed to, I felt she expected all the answers to be there right in front of her fairly straight forward and requiring no thought process. I wanted more of an element of discovery and uncovering the past on Nina’s part. It felt too dragged out in the present and bits of Nina’s so called journey went over my head. In my mind the story only got going when the past began to come to light.
The Parr family obviously have a deeply held connection to the land around Keepsake and to the building itself, we are taken back in time to the very first inhabitant around the time of Charles II. Initially I thought are we going too far back in time for it to be relevant to the story but it gave the reader the sense of how important Keepsake was. It was almost like a fairytale interwoven with Nina in the present day. Thankfully we didn’t stay stuck too long around the time of Nina’s first ancestors and instead we begin to read the story of Teddy and finally the story came to life for me and I can say I was truly riveted.
I won’t divulge much more but truly Harriet excelled in telling the story of a woman who tried to break free of the conventions and rules placed upon her by Keepsake and her history. A woman who suffered through her actions even if what she did was truly for the best. Here too Harriet dared to include a storyline that many authors would be afraid to tackle but it was beautifully handled in a sensitive way without being in your face. I really wish Harriet would write a book set solely in the past as this element of the book was far stronger than the present. Nina’s story didn’t grip me where as Teddy had many layers to be unfolded and I just wanted to read more and more of her and the people she meets and why she acted in the ways she did. Nina appeared to be floundering the solid definitive answers I wanted her to find seemed endlessly out of reach. Elements of her story towards the end became too wishy washy for me there was a lot the reader was expected to summarise or fill in for themselves. I dislike having to read between the lines or at times like with this story I felt I had missed out on parts or they had gone over my head. The book required an awful lot of concentration to keep everything straight in your head and it wasn’t easy to do this the entire time of reading. The few surprises thrown in I will admit were excellent as I hadn’t seen them coming, the wool had truly been pulled over my eyes.
The Butterfly Summer is a good book but it wasn’t my favourite by Harriet Evans as it took too long to get going. The second half was far superior to the first and that’s what kept me reading. Yes Keepsake is a magical place but maybe the magic didn’t do its work on me as much as it should have done. None the less this would be a good read for the summer months and I will be interested to see in which direction Harriet Evans will next take her writing.
The Butterfly Summer is a complex novel and shows how Harriet Evans writing has certainly matured and developed since her debut novel Going Home way back in 2005. I feel the author is moving into the more serious side of women’s fiction as her stories are becoming more in-depth whilst tackling current issues relevant to women in today’s society. These books haven’t the will they, won’t they factor between a man and woman at their centre coupled with usual fun and frolics which have become the norm in women’s fiction. No just as readers who have been with Harriet from the beginning are maturing so too is the author’s writing. In this case I will admit to finding the first half of the book very slow and at times hard going but once I made it through this section the book picked up pace and I found it much easier to keep track of everything that was going on.
The novel does move back and forth in time but in the beginning we met Nina Parr in 2008 on a day which didn’t start off too great and seems to get a bit worse as the past starts to rear its ugly head. Nina works in an office and finds the work tedious and boring. Her ultimate dream was to become a teacher but that never materialised but her love of books has never vanished as she spends lunchtimes ensconced deep in the National Library. This gives Nina a chance to get away from everything and immerse herself in another world for an hour at least. A chance encounter at the library with a woman sets in motion a series of events that will leave Nina’s life changed forever. Nina feels a connection to the library as her father had left her a lifelong membership to this place where Nina feels safe. I say left because Nina never knew her father – George Parr died on a jungle expedition to the Amazon which was researching rare and unusual butterflies. So Nina was brought up by her mother Delilah in a house split into flats. Her mother was not like other mothers and although Nina did have a good childhood the loss of her father and at times the emotional absence from her mother has left her feeling a longing or empty feeling deep inside. Coupled with this fact Nina is also dealing with her divorce from Sebastian, they met at UCL and theirs was a very quick romance that developed into marriage but one that didn’t last. Sebastian makes appearances now and again throughout the book but I didn’t warm to him at all and I found myself rushing through pages where he was featured. Nina clearly still holds some sort of flame for him but she can’t deal with it and pushes him away but this is not the crux of the story as there are far more important aspects to be focusing on. Initially you get the feeling that Nina is at a point in her life where something has to give the ties of the past particularly in relation to her parents are preventing her moving forward and she is at a crossroads where the decision she makes will determine the rest of her life.
Nina is also still missing the enigmatic woman who lived in the top floor flat of their house Mrs.Poll. Mrs.Poll was there when her mother was not she told her stories, cared for her and treated her like a daughter. A book called Nina and the Butterflies holds a special place in Nina’s heart and will be forever associated with Mrs.Poll. There is not a lot you can specifically say about this story without giving away crucial plot points. Surprises are thrown in when you least expect it and what you believed to be true you find yourself questioning at every corner. The author made excellent use of the past as an aid to explaining circumstances and events in the present and how characters came to be who they were or why they acted as they did. There was one character that shall remain nameless who just came across as an utter wimp with no guts or strength of character at all. This person was almost like a puppy wanting to do its best to please their new owner but the actions of said person in my mind left an awful lot to be desired and I felt Nina was too ready and willing to accept an explanation that was weak and which has led to unnecessary suffering.
The book had been moving along at a slow enough pace for me as there was a huge amount of setting up to do and then all of a sudden an event turned everything on its head and finally we got to the heart of the matter and I began to take more of a an interest in what was going on. Nina discovers there is a legacy, a heritage to which she has a right to as she is near to turning 26. Nina hears of the house Keepsake which is now rightfully hers, the question is does she really want it and all that it brings or is she happy to meander along in life a little bit lost and not quite happy with everything going on? Nina wasn’t a character that I especially warmed to, I felt she expected all the answers to be there right in front of her fairly straight forward and requiring no thought process. I wanted more of an element of discovery and uncovering the past on Nina’s part. It felt too dragged out in the present and bits of Nina’s so called journey went over my head. In my mind the story only got going when the past began to come to light.
The Parr family obviously have a deeply held connection to the land around Keepsake and to the building itself, we are taken back in time to the very first inhabitant around the time of Charles II. Initially I thought are we going too far back in time for it to be relevant to the story but it gave the reader the sense of how important Keepsake was. It was almost like a fairytale interwoven with Nina in the present day. Thankfully we didn’t stay stuck too long around the time of Nina’s first ancestors and instead we begin to read the story of Teddy and finally the story came to life for me and I can say I was truly riveted.
I won’t divulge much more but truly Harriet excelled in telling the story of a woman who tried to break free of the conventions and rules placed upon her by Keepsake and her history. A woman who suffered through her actions even if what she did was truly for the best. Here too Harriet dared to include a storyline that many authors would be afraid to tackle but it was beautifully handled in a sensitive way without being in your face. I really wish Harriet would write a book set solely in the past as this element of the book was far stronger than the present. Nina’s story didn’t grip me where as Teddy had many layers to be unfolded and I just wanted to read more and more of her and the people she meets and why she acted in the ways she did. Nina appeared to be floundering the solid definitive answers I wanted her to find seemed endlessly out of reach. Elements of her story towards the end became too wishy washy for me there was a lot the reader was expected to summarise or fill in for themselves. I dislike having to read between the lines or at times like with this story I felt I had missed out on parts or they had gone over my head. The book required an awful lot of concentration to keep everything straight in your head and it wasn’t easy to do this the entire time of reading. The few surprises thrown in I will admit were excellent as I hadn’t seen them coming, the wool had truly been pulled over my eyes.
The Butterfly Summer is a good book but it wasn’t my favourite by Harriet Evans as it took too long to get going. The second half was far superior to the first and that’s what kept me reading. Yes Keepsake is a magical place but maybe the magic didn’t do its work on me as much as it should have done. None the less this would be a good read for the summer months and I will be interested to see in which direction Harriet Evans will next take her writing.
Read
September 9, 2023DNF. Just couldn't get into this book. It started off like it might be interesting but it quickly became boring and confusing. The Parr family history put me to sleep and I lost interest in the story. Nor did I care about finding out about the family secret.
March 6, 2018
One of the main complaints about this book, from reading other reviews, is that it's hard to get into - but I was sucked in from the first page and I loved the moving back and forward through time to slowly unravel the mysteries of the past.
Harriet Evans is one of those writers who teach me a lot about my own writing, who continually make me up my game and this book (& it's reviews) was no exception. I had a bit of an epiphany about my own books if I'm honest.
All that aside, one of the best books I've read in a long time. Can't believe I didn't read it last summer but I guess I read it when I was meant to.
Harriet Evans is one of those writers who teach me a lot about my own writing, who continually make me up my game and this book (& it's reviews) was no exception. I had a bit of an epiphany about my own books if I'm honest.
All that aside, one of the best books I've read in a long time. Can't believe I didn't read it last summer but I guess I read it when I was meant to.
July 11, 2016
**Spoiler alert**
Although fluidly written, this book is not an easy read. At all times I had the impression of getting tangled in the scattered thoughts of the author, caught up in millions of tiny string thoughts inside a room full with more. Did I want to be there? No.
The plot is much alike a minestrone (rather than a gourmet dish), only, one cooked with whatever was left in the fridge. Unplanned, or made up along the way in a rush, by throwing in a pot ingredients, attempting to create its flavour. It never pays off.
The recipe: take a single child grown up with a depressed mother, give her an eccentric, entomologyst - and missing - father whose death was never solved, add an ex marriage, a boring work and mix together. During cooking time spice it up with an overly caring neighbour, a mysterious house and its macabre past, the sudden death - by creepy, unlikely to happen accident - of ex-husband, with whom the protagonist was about to rekindle romance and have a child, then scoop everything out of the pan and add other ingredients. A mess, that is.
None of the important happenings were properly linked together, shaped in a final plot with a meaning. And talking of meaning, the sudden death of ex-husband here was totally unnecessary; it didn't do good to the story in any way, just added gloom to an already gloomy tale. The father too, coming back then running away again, didn't make any sense, despite the efforts made by the author to try give the reader a plausible reason for a completely erratic behaviour. Here too this doing didn't add layers to the story. Not last, the neighbour's part in the story is revealed at the end; and again, one would wish it was instead revealed to the characters in the book, rather than the reader.
In all honesty, the plot could have pan out much differently, better, if the author stuck to a more logical approach in writing it. As a reader, I felt deprived of what I was seeking: anything that would anchor me to the sequence of events, clarity for the characters, most of which we could do without.
This minestrone was a disaster from start to finish, with the wrong ingredients chuck together with no care and the wrong seasoning to complete the spoiling of it.
My bottom line is that I won't recommend this book. It's a waste of time.
Although fluidly written, this book is not an easy read. At all times I had the impression of getting tangled in the scattered thoughts of the author, caught up in millions of tiny string thoughts inside a room full with more. Did I want to be there? No.
The plot is much alike a minestrone (rather than a gourmet dish), only, one cooked with whatever was left in the fridge. Unplanned, or made up along the way in a rush, by throwing in a pot ingredients, attempting to create its flavour. It never pays off.
The recipe: take a single child grown up with a depressed mother, give her an eccentric, entomologyst - and missing - father whose death was never solved, add an ex marriage, a boring work and mix together. During cooking time spice it up with an overly caring neighbour, a mysterious house and its macabre past, the sudden death - by creepy, unlikely to happen accident - of ex-husband, with whom the protagonist was about to rekindle romance and have a child, then scoop everything out of the pan and add other ingredients. A mess, that is.
None of the important happenings were properly linked together, shaped in a final plot with a meaning. And talking of meaning, the sudden death of ex-husband here was totally unnecessary; it didn't do good to the story in any way, just added gloom to an already gloomy tale. The father too, coming back then running away again, didn't make any sense, despite the efforts made by the author to try give the reader a plausible reason for a completely erratic behaviour. Here too this doing didn't add layers to the story. Not last, the neighbour's part in the story is revealed at the end; and again, one would wish it was instead revealed to the characters in the book, rather than the reader.
In all honesty, the plot could have pan out much differently, better, if the author stuck to a more logical approach in writing it. As a reader, I felt deprived of what I was seeking: anything that would anchor me to the sequence of events, clarity for the characters, most of which we could do without.
This minestrone was a disaster from start to finish, with the wrong ingredients chuck together with no care and the wrong seasoning to complete the spoiling of it.
My bottom line is that I won't recommend this book. It's a waste of time.
March 13, 2016
I received a copy of The Butterfly Summer from Hachette New Zealand to review. I can’t remember why this stood out to me but I’m glad it did.
Nina grew up not knowing much about her father’s side of the family. He died when she was six months old. When things about her family are revealed out of the blue Nina finds herself digging for clues, determined to understand what’s going on.
The Butterfly Summer is told in two perspectives. One is Nina’s and the other is her grandmother, Teddy’s. They are both writing about what happened to them. Nina, three years later and Teddy at the end of her life. I did click to the hidden connection between Nina and Teddy before it was revealed and thought it was a great twist to the story.
There were so many disturbing things that happened in the Parr history. I don’t understand how Keepsake affected the Parr women or what some of them did there. I especially don’t understand why they would willingly do that to themselves..
It tool me a few days to get into The Butterfly Summer but once I did I enjoyed it. I liked that Nina and Teddy’s stories were told in between the other so it wasn’t all told at once and left you wanting more while you learned more about one of the women. And even though I figured out Teddy’s secret it didn’t make me like the story any less.
I liked how The Butterfly Summer was set out and it covered a lot of different topics, like war, being gay during a time when it was still seen as wrong, guilt the London Riots. I didn’t know the London Riots were going to be in the book but it was interesting to read about it. If only for the short time is was mentioned.
I think the reason it took me longer to get into this book than it normally takes me is because I went into the book blind and it was a bit confusing at the start. It didn’t take me long to figure it out and then I couldn’t put it down.
Nina grew up not knowing much about her father’s side of the family. He died when she was six months old. When things about her family are revealed out of the blue Nina finds herself digging for clues, determined to understand what’s going on.
The Butterfly Summer is told in two perspectives. One is Nina’s and the other is her grandmother, Teddy’s. They are both writing about what happened to them. Nina, three years later and Teddy at the end of her life. I did click to the hidden connection between Nina and Teddy before it was revealed and thought it was a great twist to the story.
There were so many disturbing things that happened in the Parr history. I don’t understand how Keepsake affected the Parr women or what some of them did there. I especially don’t understand why they would willingly do that to themselves..
It tool me a few days to get into The Butterfly Summer but once I did I enjoyed it. I liked that Nina and Teddy’s stories were told in between the other so it wasn’t all told at once and left you wanting more while you learned more about one of the women. And even though I figured out Teddy’s secret it didn’t make me like the story any less.
I liked how The Butterfly Summer was set out and it covered a lot of different topics, like war, being gay during a time when it was still seen as wrong, guilt the London Riots. I didn’t know the London Riots were going to be in the book but it was interesting to read about it. If only for the short time is was mentioned.
I think the reason it took me longer to get into this book than it normally takes me is because I went into the book blind and it was a bit confusing at the start. It didn’t take me long to figure it out and then I couldn’t put it down.
August 30, 2016
What magic is this?
You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.
They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder ... and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.
This book took me longer to read than necessary. I couldn't get into it, felt it was boring, and the main character, Nina Parr, I didn't care for. I usually enjoy Harriet Evans, but I felt like she was very confused with where she wanted the story to go when she wrote this.
You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.
They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder ... and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.
This book took me longer to read than necessary. I couldn't get into it, felt it was boring, and the main character, Nina Parr, I didn't care for. I usually enjoy Harriet Evans, but I felt like she was very confused with where she wanted the story to go when she wrote this.
February 25, 2018
Only got 150 pages in - gave up not holding my interest at all.
November 22, 2018
Interesting background story but a very confusing read😳
January 30, 2016
I really enjoyed this book although it did whizz back and forth in time but once the characters from the eras' were established it was easier to follow.
Essentially a story about a dysfunctional family and secrets and obligations that pass from female generation to generation binding them all together for an eternity. It starts at the end really where the present day Nina meets an old woman in the London Library where she has been given life membership by her father before he went away when she was a child and who she never sees again believing him to be dead. This chance meeting (or perhaps it wasn't chance) starts her on a journey of discovery about her life, lineage and inheritance of Keepsake and the butterflies.
Nina has been bought up by her mother Delilah and step father Malc with a little help from Mrs Poll who suddenly moved into the top flat of the house they lived in when Nina was about 6 months old. She proved to be a godsend to the exhausted Deliah and she helped to bring Nina up, like a real life fairy godmother she shared their lives until she died when Nina was 25. When she died she bequeathed her flat to them so they eventually ended up owning the whole house. We meet Nina just as she is getting a divorce from Sebastian who she met in university and after being together only a year they get married which they both realised quite quickly was a mistake. They remained good friends after the divorce probably better friends than when they were married.
Harriet Evans then takes us through several generations of the Parr family and expertly intertwines these characters together even though all the female members of the family were quite different their stories were authentic and characters believable. After meeting the present day Nina we are introduced to her ancestor Lady Nina who has a daughter Charlotte the product of a union between Nina and King Charles II when he was sheltering from the Roundheads he hid at Keepsake. He was enchanted with the butterfly garden that Nina had cultivated. When he hears he has a daughter he sends Nina a diamond brooch shaped like a butterfly which Charlotte wears and gives to her own daughter before she dies. The King also decrees that Keepsake be given to his daughter Charlotte and every daughter born there. On the broach is inscribed 'What's loved is never lost'.
The story hinges around the inheritance but also about wrongs that were done and sacrifices made to right those wrongs to atone for mistakes made generations before the present Nina was born. You can feel the force of those generations reaching out across time which makes this a compelling read.
I never tell too much about a book I review but urge you to read this one; its well written, hauntingly sad in places but satisfying in it's conclusion. I did guess the outcome but it does not really become obvious until the last few chapters at least it didn't for me. I enjoyed the journey of these females as they accepted responsibility of their inheritance and the burden that it bought them.
I have given this a well deserved 4 stars.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
Essentially a story about a dysfunctional family and secrets and obligations that pass from female generation to generation binding them all together for an eternity. It starts at the end really where the present day Nina meets an old woman in the London Library where she has been given life membership by her father before he went away when she was a child and who she never sees again believing him to be dead. This chance meeting (or perhaps it wasn't chance) starts her on a journey of discovery about her life, lineage and inheritance of Keepsake and the butterflies.
Nina has been bought up by her mother Delilah and step father Malc with a little help from Mrs Poll who suddenly moved into the top flat of the house they lived in when Nina was about 6 months old. She proved to be a godsend to the exhausted Deliah and she helped to bring Nina up, like a real life fairy godmother she shared their lives until she died when Nina was 25. When she died she bequeathed her flat to them so they eventually ended up owning the whole house. We meet Nina just as she is getting a divorce from Sebastian who she met in university and after being together only a year they get married which they both realised quite quickly was a mistake. They remained good friends after the divorce probably better friends than when they were married.
Harriet Evans then takes us through several generations of the Parr family and expertly intertwines these characters together even though all the female members of the family were quite different their stories were authentic and characters believable. After meeting the present day Nina we are introduced to her ancestor Lady Nina who has a daughter Charlotte the product of a union between Nina and King Charles II when he was sheltering from the Roundheads he hid at Keepsake. He was enchanted with the butterfly garden that Nina had cultivated. When he hears he has a daughter he sends Nina a diamond brooch shaped like a butterfly which Charlotte wears and gives to her own daughter before she dies. The King also decrees that Keepsake be given to his daughter Charlotte and every daughter born there. On the broach is inscribed 'What's loved is never lost'.
The story hinges around the inheritance but also about wrongs that were done and sacrifices made to right those wrongs to atone for mistakes made generations before the present Nina was born. You can feel the force of those generations reaching out across time which makes this a compelling read.
I never tell too much about a book I review but urge you to read this one; its well written, hauntingly sad in places but satisfying in it's conclusion. I did guess the outcome but it does not really become obvious until the last few chapters at least it didn't for me. I enjoyed the journey of these females as they accepted responsibility of their inheritance and the burden that it bought them.
I have given this a well deserved 4 stars.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.
March 10, 2016
Harriet Evans has penned an engaging and captivating novel on family and the secrets that can be kept within them. It begins with Nina and a meeting she has in the London Library. It is this meeting which instigated Nina to look into her family, herself, the Keepsake and the butterflies. She finds herself rocked about all the foundations that she thought underlied her family.
Several generations of the family are explored. There is considerable importance attached to inheritance. This a great story that absorbed me. You cannot help but be drawn into this generations spanning tale. It is atmospheric and has finely drawn characters. An enjoyable read with beautiful descriptions. Thanks to Headline, the publishers for an ARC via goodreads giveaways.
Several generations of the family are explored. There is considerable importance attached to inheritance. This a great story that absorbed me. You cannot help but be drawn into this generations spanning tale. It is atmospheric and has finely drawn characters. An enjoyable read with beautiful descriptions. Thanks to Headline, the publishers for an ARC via goodreads giveaways.
May 4, 2018
Nina Parr never knew her father and her mum is not really like mothers in books. Her father bought her a life membership to the London Library before he went away. The library is where she spent of her days. Nina had been told that her father died when she was six months old and that there was no funeral as he had no family and there for Nina had no sense of where she had come from or who he was. Nina's father George Parr grew up in a house with lots of butterflies. A lady at the library knew Nina's fathers and said he wasn't dead. The lady asked what about Keepsake is she still there? Nina knew the name Keepsake. What's Keepsake?
May 17, 2019
I wanted to give this more stars and when I started reading it I couldn’t imagine it being less than 4* as I loved the writing in the first two thirds. However... the “secret” turned into everyone having secrets as though the author didn’t have faith that one would be enough. Also having Sebastian die at the end preventing Nina from making a decision about him felt weak and I’ve had enough of “a baby will solve everything” endings. Sorry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2018
This really isn't my kind of book. I struggled to finish it and it took me an awfully long time to read.
February 21, 2016
Review to follow.
June 21, 2023
As I usually read crime fiction this was a change of scenery for me.
Every so often I enjoy a historical saga or family saga to help clear my mind of all the carnage I read about and this book hit the spot.
Plenty of characters telling different parts of a family history with a little twist as to how the family home was to be passed on.
It could get confusing at times especially if I had left it a couple of days but I was enjoying it so much that it was continually at hand and I finished it quickly.
Easy reading with some characters more pleasant than others.
I will definitely read other books by this author as they are great books to relax with.
Every so often I enjoy a historical saga or family saga to help clear my mind of all the carnage I read about and this book hit the spot.
Plenty of characters telling different parts of a family history with a little twist as to how the family home was to be passed on.
It could get confusing at times especially if I had left it a couple of days but I was enjoying it so much that it was continually at hand and I finished it quickly.
Easy reading with some characters more pleasant than others.
I will definitely read other books by this author as they are great books to relax with.
October 19, 2019
This blew me away.
Wow, what an amazing story.
An old house hidden in Cornwall, with a history going back to Charles II, and holding lot of secrets.
Told in multi timelines, a mystical journey through time to the present, and back again. This fabulous read absorbed me entirely.
So very well written and researched by an author that I becoming addicted to; her story telling is mind blowing.
Wow, what an amazing story.
An old house hidden in Cornwall, with a history going back to Charles II, and holding lot of secrets.
Told in multi timelines, a mystical journey through time to the present, and back again. This fabulous read absorbed me entirely.
So very well written and researched by an author that I becoming addicted to; her story telling is mind blowing.
November 27, 2017
When I started reading this book I didn't quite know what to make of it. It was interesting but didn't seem to be leading anywhere...so I almost gave up. But, the characters had hold of me by then so I persevered and I am pleased that I did! A most unusual story but well worth the reading.
July 16, 2019
I normally love Harriet Evans's books but for some reason this one didn't do it for me. It was a bit too long winded and there didn't actually seem a huge amount of story. There were a couple of brilliant plot twists that I didn't see coming but aside from them I'm afraid I found this book a little boring.
December 31, 2018
I really didn’t enjoy this book at first and struggled to keep track of what and when... I think the latter half was more compelling and I predicted the twist at the end before it came but forgot as the rest of the story unfurled and then it appeared... overall, I liked it, I think!
August 20, 2023
So special. Could not put it down.
February 3, 2026
This seemed quite slow and tedious at times, with characters I struggled to engage with. The storyline jumped regularly back and forwards in time too. I enjoy a dual timeline book but this one sadly just didn't hit the mark for me.
May 12, 2022
I absolutely loved the first book I read by Harriet Evans, but I didn't really enjoy the first 100 pages or so of this one. I struggled to keep track of who was who across the generations, and their relationships to each other. It did get better and by the end I was gripped, and didn't spot either of the major plot twists. Almost tempted to read it again so I can properly nail who's who
March 20, 2019
I could have loved this book. It has many elements of a story I would enjoy: a crumbling estate in England, a beautiful garden, a story told from multiple viewpoints, and mysterious family secrets. But it didn't quite come together. I think there were simply too many sad stories and too many overly flawed characters. There was redemption for some of the characters, but I still finished the book feeling sad.
March 12, 2016
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The Butterfly Summer is the latest novel by the Sunday Times bestselling author Harrier Evans. It is a story full of mystery and secrets that, although primarily set in 2011, whizzes back and forth in time. In London 2011 the narrator, Nina Parr, a young divorced woman of 25, is living with her mother and stepfather in the house she grew up in. In 1986 her father went on an expedition to Venezuela in search of the Glasswinged butterfly where he supposedly met his fate, thus never returned. However, after a brief but strange encounter with a confused old lady, Nina questions the truth about her father’s death.
Other mysteries begin to crop up from this moment forth. Nina hears of a woman named Teddy who she apparently looks like, and learns that the mansion from her favourite childhood book is a real place. But how are these things connected to Nina’s father?
As Nina begins to unravel her previously unaware of family secrets, the reader also learns more about Teddy – her past, her experiences and her connection with a house called Keepsake.
To begin with The Butterfly Summer was exciting and refreshing, the cryptic storyline pulling you in and not letting go. However from the midway point it began to considerably slow down and become rather dull, stale. Nina is such an interesting character that, by contrast, the snippets (rather extensive ones) about Teddy’s past were difficult to plow through.
One thing to commend the author on – although others may disagree – is the limit she put on romantic affairs. For me there was just the right amount of reference to these relationships to provoke the feeling of heartbrokenness yet not to detract from the main storyline.
For those who enjoy women’s fiction of a similar nature (e.g. Jill Mansell, perhaps) The Butterfly Summer is definitely a book to look out for. For me however, even though the first half I really enjoyed (four stars out of five), I had begun to work out the remaining mysteries myself and found the latter half less exciting.
The Butterfly Summer is the latest novel by the Sunday Times bestselling author Harrier Evans. It is a story full of mystery and secrets that, although primarily set in 2011, whizzes back and forth in time. In London 2011 the narrator, Nina Parr, a young divorced woman of 25, is living with her mother and stepfather in the house she grew up in. In 1986 her father went on an expedition to Venezuela in search of the Glasswinged butterfly where he supposedly met his fate, thus never returned. However, after a brief but strange encounter with a confused old lady, Nina questions the truth about her father’s death.
Other mysteries begin to crop up from this moment forth. Nina hears of a woman named Teddy who she apparently looks like, and learns that the mansion from her favourite childhood book is a real place. But how are these things connected to Nina’s father?
As Nina begins to unravel her previously unaware of family secrets, the reader also learns more about Teddy – her past, her experiences and her connection with a house called Keepsake.
To begin with The Butterfly Summer was exciting and refreshing, the cryptic storyline pulling you in and not letting go. However from the midway point it began to considerably slow down and become rather dull, stale. Nina is such an interesting character that, by contrast, the snippets (rather extensive ones) about Teddy’s past were difficult to plow through.
One thing to commend the author on – although others may disagree – is the limit she put on romantic affairs. For me there was just the right amount of reference to these relationships to provoke the feeling of heartbrokenness yet not to detract from the main storyline.
For those who enjoy women’s fiction of a similar nature (e.g. Jill Mansell, perhaps) The Butterfly Summer is definitely a book to look out for. For me however, even though the first half I really enjoyed (four stars out of five), I had begun to work out the remaining mysteries myself and found the latter half less exciting.
May 24, 2016
*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
The Butterfly Summer is actually the first book by Harriet Evans I’ve read, which is quite weird, but I can’t change it. Anyway, let’s start…
This book tells the story of Nina Parr and especially the young woman discovering part of her family she has never known. What happened in the past and why is it all connected to Keepsake a mysterious house in Cornwall?! UT all starts when Nina meets a woman she doesn’t know in the library. That woman knows her and she wants Nina to discover her family’s legacy. Nina never knew her dad George Parr, who died on a jungle expedition. In addition to that she is divorced already, married at 19 and is now still friends with Sebastian.
Well, let’s just say she is going through a lot.
I have to be honest here, it took me quite a while to get into the story, it seemed slow at first and the moving back and forth in time didn’t really help. I have to say thought that the more I found out about the Parr family and the women in the family, the more I got into it and I wanted Nina to figure everything out.
Harriet Evans really “brings you home” with this book. The writing is full of emotions, depth and mystery. I loved how vividly Harriet described all the places, unfortunately I didn’t feel the same with the story. It was quite clear in the end, but the way to get there was complicated and stony. The idea behind it all is fab and I wish I was more gripped, but something was missing for me. I think clearer connections and a flowing storyline would have helped for me. I guess that could be quite different for other readers, but that’s how I felt.
I liked that there were a lot of unforeseen moments and twists in the story. It was interesting to get to know all these different generations of Parr women and I really liked the inheritance fact of the story.
Even if there are some parts that didn’t work for me, I still fell in love with Harriet’s writing and definitely plan on reading more of her books.
March 26, 2016
Two books within one. For the main part The Butterfly Summer is the contemporary story of Nina Parr and Keepsake, the magical home that is her birthright. Interspersed with her story is that of her grandmother, Theodora aka Teddy.
A novel that took me a while to get into. Whilst both stories taken by themselves are enjoyable enough, I'm afraid the duel perspective, the weaving backwards and forwards in time, simply didn't work for me, making this a book that, taken as a whole, was ultimately merely OK.
Essentially a story about the secrets (many of them hardly secrets at all) and obligations that, generation after generation, bind together the women of the Parr family. I'm afraid, especially in its earlier chapters, the characters from the differing eras yet to be established, I found the book confusing, the various strands to the plot unnecessarily convoluted which sadly meant instead of focusing on the story I found myself concentrating overly hard on just where (if anywhere) it was going.
Character wise?
Alas I'm afraid I didn't for some reason or other connect with the characters. The best I can say being I found myself intrigued with the mysterious elderly woman who, seeming to know many aspects of her life despite the fact they haven't met before, approaches Nina in the London Library.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
A novel that took me a while to get into. Whilst both stories taken by themselves are enjoyable enough, I'm afraid the duel perspective, the weaving backwards and forwards in time, simply didn't work for me, making this a book that, taken as a whole, was ultimately merely OK.
Essentially a story about the secrets (many of them hardly secrets at all) and obligations that, generation after generation, bind together the women of the Parr family. I'm afraid, especially in its earlier chapters, the characters from the differing eras yet to be established, I found the book confusing, the various strands to the plot unnecessarily convoluted which sadly meant instead of focusing on the story I found myself concentrating overly hard on just where (if anywhere) it was going.
Character wise?
Alas I'm afraid I didn't for some reason or other connect with the characters. The best I can say being I found myself intrigued with the mysterious elderly woman who, seeming to know many aspects of her life despite the fact they haven't met before, approaches Nina in the London Library.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
May 20, 2016
Butterfly Summer locations
This is a really unusual book – haunting and poignant in turn and a real trail to find out the truth of the past. I admit I found the idea intriguing from the beginning – like how one butterfly flapping its wings can change things and how we over the years try to make things right, change the course of events and the things we do to keep family together.
The fact that the past and present was written in different fonts helped as I did get a little mixed up at the beginning but as the book progressed I found it was easier to keep track of who was who. the story of the past was the best – full of rich detail and interesting butterfly facts. How the story blended into the present was nicely done and it felt like a rich experience by the end.
This is very different to what I’v read from Harriet before but it was a lovely surprise – a really unusual idea and I enjoyed getting to know all the women of the family.
The mystery does reveal itself before the end but the satisfaction of reading it and patting yourself on the back, seeing how events have turned out is a lovely reward. This is a journey about women in one family and their keepsake. I am now off to goggle more about butterflies as they are fascinating !
This is a really unusual book – haunting and poignant in turn and a real trail to find out the truth of the past. I admit I found the idea intriguing from the beginning – like how one butterfly flapping its wings can change things and how we over the years try to make things right, change the course of events and the things we do to keep family together.
The fact that the past and present was written in different fonts helped as I did get a little mixed up at the beginning but as the book progressed I found it was easier to keep track of who was who. the story of the past was the best – full of rich detail and interesting butterfly facts. How the story blended into the present was nicely done and it felt like a rich experience by the end.
This is very different to what I’v read from Harriet before but it was a lovely surprise – a really unusual idea and I enjoyed getting to know all the women of the family.
The mystery does reveal itself before the end but the satisfaction of reading it and patting yourself on the back, seeing how events have turned out is a lovely reward. This is a journey about women in one family and their keepsake. I am now off to goggle more about butterflies as they are fascinating !
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