Book #Giveaway, Review and Blog Tour: The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill {2 Winners}
Thursday, May 17, 2012 Posted by Dina
by Bernie McGill. Now this fascinating novel is available in paperback! Read on to find out more about the book, and make sure to check out the book trailer.Book Description
Vivid, mysterious and unforgettable, The Butterfly Cabinet is Bernie McGill's engrossing portrayal of the dark history that intertwines two lives. Inspired by a true story of the death of the daughter of an aristocratic Irish family at the end of the nineteenth century, McGill powerfully tells this tale of two women whose lives will become upended by a newly told secret.
The events begin when Maddie McGlade, a former nanny now in her nineties, receives a letter from the last of her charges and realizes that the time has come to unburden herself of a secret she has kept for over seventy years: what really happened on the last day in the life of Charlotte Ormond, the four-year-old only daughter of the big house where Maddie was employed as a young woman. It is to Charlotte's would-be niece, Anna — pregnant with her first — that Maddie will tell her story as she nears the end of her life in a lonely nursing home in Northern Ireland.
The book unfolds in chapters that alternate between Maddie's story and the prison diaries of Charlotte's mother, Harriet, who had been held responsible for her daughter's death. As Maddie confesses the truth to Anna, she unravels the Ormonds' complex family history, and also details her own life, marked by poverty, fear, sacrifice and lies. In stark contrast to Maddie is the misunderstood, haughty and yet surprisingly lyrical voice of Harriet's prison diaries, which Maddie has kept hidden for decades. Motherhood came no more easily to Harriet than did her role as mistress of a far-flung Irish estate. Proud and uncompromising, she is passionate about riding horses and collecting butterflies to store in her prized cabinet. When her only daughter, Charlotte, dies, allegedly as the result of Harriet's punitive actions, the community is quick to condemn her and send her to prison for the killing. Unwilling to stoop to defend herself and too absorbed in her own world of strict rules and repressed desires, she accepts the cruel destiny that is beyond her control even as, paradoxically, it sets her free.
The result of this unusual duet is a haunting novel full of frightening silences and sorrowful absences that build toward the unexpected, chilling truth.
My Thoughts
The Butterfly Cabinet
is a beautifully written book that stays in my thoughts long after I've read it. Based on a true story about the death of a 4-year girl, it's a novel about parenting, passions, guilt, love, loss, truth and punishment. I will not retell the story because the book description does a wonderful job on that.The story spans over eight decades and is told in two voices: that of the elderly Maddie, former servant to the family, and of Harriet, the dead girl's mother, who writes a diary while in prison. Maddie shares her memories with the daughter of the child Harriet gives birth to while in prison. The events in the book take place against the background of a changing Ireland, with its complex political, religious and class divisions. The narrative is multi-layered, gradually revealing characters and events. Maddie, a keeper of secrets for decades, uncovers them in fragments. What at first seems to be an indisputable truth - a child dies as a consequence of her mother's disciplinary methods - becomes more nuanced as the story continues.
The Giveaway
Two (2) lucky U.S. readers will each win a copy of The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill!
To enter, please follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter form.
* If you can't see the form, please refresh your page, make sure Javascript is enabled, or try another browser.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
May 17, 2012 at 5:56 PM
John Irving Toni Morrison Ann Tyler there new books!
May 17, 2012 at 6:00 PM
It was one of my favorite books last year!
May 17, 2012 at 6:15 PM
Among books I will read this summer is The Passage of Power by Robert Caro. jtretin at aol dot com
May 17, 2012 at 6:58 PM
I'm catching up on magazine reading and waiting to get together with my sister next month. She always has a stack of books for me to read.
PMNSL95 at triad dot rr dot com
May 17, 2012 at 7:03 PM
books I will read this summer are wanda e brunstetter indiana cousins series.Emma miller Leah's choice. jillian hart montana homecoming. and more.
May 17, 2012 at 7:15 PM
Finally going to get to Ready, Player One!
May 17, 2012 at 7:32 PM
I plan on reading An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and others.
May 17, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Whatever new books the library has
Kims2312@verizon.net
May 17, 2012 at 7:35 PM
I am going to read the rest of the Hunger Games trilogy. Thank you
candieluster(at)gmail(dot)com
May 17, 2012 at 7:36 PM
Probaly a cozie mystery. Just got done reading Illegal. Got lots on my kindle to pick from
May 17, 2012 at 7:51 PM
I have several books on my TBR list....in particular, The Book of Lost Fragrances, Stealing Kevin's Heart, and Sipping in the Nile.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com
May 17, 2012 at 8:59 PM
There are lots of books I want to read. To many to name lol. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
May 17, 2012 at 10:03 PM
The Hunger Games is on my summer reading list. I still haven't read it!
May 17, 2012 at 11:43 PM
10 Beach Road!
May 18, 2012 at 2:29 AM
I'm looking forward to reading Shadows of Night by Deborah Harkness.
rsgrandinetti@yahoo(DOT)com
May 18, 2012 at 4:45 AM
I have a huge stack of books to go through, but i'm starting with Graceling and Fire.
May 18, 2012 at 8:12 AM
I am reading books by Jodi Picoult right now. Patricia
May 18, 2012 at 12:16 PM
I'm not sure what I will be reading, I usually go to the library and just browse to find something.
lclee59@centurylink.net
May 21, 2012 at 12:56 PM
I have 3 Kasey Michaels books I plan to read. Thank you for the chance.
:)Jeanne B.T.
May 21, 2012 at 7:55 PM
I want to read "The Keeper" by Suzanne Woods Fisher and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.
May 21, 2012 at 9:36 PM
Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell
lag110 at mchsi dot com
May 21, 2012 at 10:37 PM
"Let's Pretend This Never Happened" Jenny Lawson, The Hunger Games trilogy, "Diet For a New America" to name a few!
May 21, 2012 at 11:39 PM
Ooh! Lets see here... We got some Agatha Christie novels... Just finishing up the Hunger Games series... Some books my Marian Keyes (I love her humor)... a few books from the Dexter series I've been meaning to read since I've watched the show, aaaand... Arabian Nights. Oh yes, this is going to be a great summer!
Lots of interesting books in the comments! Can't wait to check them out, too! Good luck, everyone! :D
-zalory@yahoo.com
May 22, 2012 at 2:10 AM
Next on my list, I am going to read The Paris Wife.
Thank you,
Christine W
womackcm@sbcglobal.net
May 22, 2012 at 7:57 AM
On my summer list is to read a few more catering mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson.
primabee at hotmail dot com
May 24, 2012 at 2:29 AM
The rest of the No. 1 ladies detective agency books and Discovering Biblical Equality Complementarity without hierarchy. 2 different books but interesting in their own ways!
May 24, 2012 at 4:00 AM
I have been reading books by my friend Linda Noel.
May 24, 2012 at 10:42 AM
Minor Snobs by Daniel Amory is on my summer reading list!
Thank you for the giveaway :)
hurdler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com
May 24, 2012 at 11:22 AM
escape from camp 14
gkuroda(at)hawaii.edu
May 24, 2012 at 11:58 AM
A new CJ box book.
slb3334@gmail.com
May 24, 2012 at 12:23 PM
C. Moore's Lamb, Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller, John Dies At the End (D. Wong)
May 24, 2012 at 12:57 PM
I plan on reading Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter, and several other mysteries.
ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net
May 24, 2012 at 7:29 PM
I will be picking up books from the library this summer
May 25, 2012 at 10:07 AM
My list is very long and varied. Much of it depends upon what is available when I get in to the library each week.
May 25, 2012 at 10:29 AM
I'm in the Ms at the library right now and currently reading Fern Michaels books but I also have a reserve of books that I have been given and I read a lot so it will be a real variety.
May 25, 2012 at 11:30 AM
I want to read Let's Pretend this never happened, All the Truth, Final Sail and whatever else i get my hands on
May 25, 2012 at 12:55 PM
A Stolen Life
s2s2 at comcast dot net
May 26, 2012 at 1:18 PM
I don't really have a list, but it will most likely be a romance book
thanks for the giveaway
May 27, 2012 at 10:06 AM
The Hunger Games trilogy :)
ktgonyea at gmail.com
May 29, 2012 at 11:25 AM
Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis
May 31, 2012 at 10:27 AM
A shade of gray
June 1, 2012 at 12:54 AM
Any new Janet Evanovich book that may come out
June 2, 2012 at 8:29 PM
Rereading A Feast for Crows - George RR Martin
June 3, 2012 at 4:29 PM
BEFORE EVER AFTER by Samantha Sotto - a sweepstakes win!
June 3, 2012 at 4:54 PM
My Summer reading list is huge but the next one I have to work on is Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.
June 3, 2012 at 8:03 PM
nothing yet - regnod(at)yahoo(d0t)com
June 5, 2012 at 9:56 AM
I am going to jump on the Band Wagon and Read The Hunger Games
June 5, 2012 at 1:24 PM
The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall.
June 5, 2012 at 8:35 PM
the help
vmkids3 at msn dot com
June 5, 2012 at 10:20 PM
Bridges of Madison County
skipthelaundry at gmail dot com
June 6, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Written In The Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt.
kat_emerick@yahoo.com
June 6, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Hunger games
cookster77@aol.com
June 6, 2012 at 1:31 PM
I am going to read the newest Adrianna Trigiani book.
choateorama(at)gmail(dot)com
June 6, 2012 at 9:53 PM
Lots of JD Robb, The Girl who played with fire, the girl who kicked the hornets nest, Janet evanovich, and lots of urban fantasy!
a_bartley81@Yahoo.com
June 6, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Wild Jack by John Christopher
jim.coyne2@verizon.net
June 6, 2012 at 10:33 PM
Right now, I am reading Killing Lincoln.
cinderwhims at gmail dot com