The Butterfly Girl: A Novel
“A heartbreaking, finger-gnawing, and yet ultimately hopeful novel by the amazing Rene Denfeld.” —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter
After captivating readers in The Child Finder, Naomi—the investigator with an uncanny ability for finding missing children—returns, trading snow-covered woods for dark, gritty streets on the search for her missing sister in a city where young, homeless girls have been going missing and turning up dead.
From the highly praised author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted comes The Butterfly Girl, a riveting novel that ripples with truth, exploring the depths of love and sacrifice in the face of a past that cannot be left dead and buried. A year ago, Naomi, the investigator with an uncanny ability for finding missing children, made a promise that she would not take another case until she finds the younger sister who has been missing for years. Naomi has no picture, not even a name. All she has is a vague memory of a strawberry field at night, black dirt under her bare feet as she ran for her life.
The search takes her to Portland, Oregon, where scores of homeless children wander the streets like ghosts, searching for money, food, and companionship. The sharp-eyed investigator soon discovers that young girls have been going missing for months, many later found in the dirty waters of the river. Though she does not want to get involved, Naomi is unable to resist the pull of children in need—and the fear she sees in the eyes of a twelve-year old girl named Celia. Running from an abusive stepfather and an addict mother, Celia has nothing but hope in the butterflies—her guides and guardians on the dangerous streets. She sees them all around her, tiny iridescent wisps of hope that soften the edges of this hard world and illuminate a cherished memory from her childhood—the Butterfly Museum, a place where everything is safe and nothing can hurt her.
As danger creeps closer, Naomi and Celia find echoes of themselves in one another, forcing them each to consider the question: Can you still be lost even when you’ve been found? But will they find the answer too late?
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Community Reviews
This is the sequel to The Child Finder and picks up a year later. Naomi and Jerome, who were foster siblings growing up with Mrs. Cottle, are now married and have spent the last year looking for her sister. This is the sister that she remembered at the end of the Child Finder. She told Jerome that she didn’t want to take on any new missing child cases until she found her sister. So, they’re broke and staying with their friend, Diane.
For the first half of the book, Naomi wanders the streets of skid row in a coastal Oregon city. She searches among the homeless encampments and hangouts searching for the sister who’s name she doesn’t even know or remember. In the second half, she discovers her sister’s name and she believe she knows who the person who abducted her and her sister is and begins searching for him too.
There is a secondary story about a runaway, homeless girl, Celia, that Naomi befriends in her search for her sister. There is also another storyline of a serial killer who is killing runaway, homeless girls. While Naomi isn’t working the case, she does assist law enforcement when she comes across clues as to where more dead bodies could be found. All of these stories eventually merge and come to an explosive conclusion.
Based on the ending, it seems like this may be the end of the series. I’m not sure if there will be another installment. Too bad too, it’s pretty good and I could think of a couple different directions the author could go for the series. Time will tell though.
For the first half of the book, Naomi wanders the streets of skid row in a coastal Oregon city. She searches among the homeless encampments and hangouts searching for the sister who’s name she doesn’t even know or remember. In the second half, she discovers her sister’s name and she believe she knows who the person who abducted her and her sister is and begins searching for him too.
There is a secondary story about a runaway, homeless girl, Celia, that Naomi befriends in her search for her sister. There is also another storyline of a serial killer who is killing runaway, homeless girls. While Naomi isn’t working the case, she does assist law enforcement when she comes across clues as to where more dead bodies could be found. All of these stories eventually merge and come to an explosive conclusion.
Based on the ending, it seems like this may be the end of the series. I’m not sure if there will be another installment. Too bad too, it’s pretty good and I could think of a couple different directions the author could go for the series. Time will tell though.
The writing was lackluster. Information seemed to be thrown out at random, and scenes changed with no rhyme or reason. The dialogue was stilted and strange, nothing anyone would actually say, and the prose were disjointed and confusing. The constant theme of butterflies was more of an annoying distraction than a symbol. The only reason you could tell Celia was twelve was because the author made sure it was one of the first things she mentioned about the girl, she acted and thought nothing like a child, even one who was forced to grow up to fast. The characters jumped to so many conclusions you would assume they were playing hopscotch.