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Butterfly
Butterfly
Dec 20, 2025 5:46 AM

Author:Sonya Hartnett

Butterfly

Awkward, alienated, angry teenager Plum looks in the mirror, and hates what she sees. No one appreciates her - least of all herself. But when a beautiful, sophisticated neighbour invites Plum over, things change. Plum learns how to be different.

But the new Plum confuses people. Her friends treat her differently. Her brothers and parents don't know what to make of her. And for Plum and her new mentor, the transformation has unforeseen consequences that neither will ever forget . . .

Reviews

The novel fascinates in its record of the hazards and joys shared by a rich and rewarding company of personalities

—— Scotsman

The best novel its author has written for some time...his characters...are carved out with fine bold strokes, and the red dust of his million-acre ranch fairly gets in your throat

—— Daily Telegraph

That shattering, unaffected, literary style of his is wholly deceptive...is, in fact, masterly

—— H.E. Bates

A brilliantly descriptive writer, a master of suspense

—— David Holloway

'With each book, Hervey himself is becoming a more complex and interesting characters...Mallinson writes of his inner questionings with subtlety and sympathy. This series grows in stature with each book'

—— Evening Standard

A compulsive read

—— Jacqueline Wilson

You really care about the characters and it makes you question what you would do in the same circumstances. My heart was in my mouth at the end of it

—— Mary Hooper

Beneath this dramatic storyline, which will resonate with older teen readers, Gayle Forman cleverly explores the fragility and uncertainty of life. She does so in an emotive and thoughtful manner that will persuade even the most cynical reader of the importance of friendship, family and love

—— Waterstone's Books Quarterly

STARRED REVIEW - Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living

—— Publishers Weekly (US)

The author endows the narrative with as much humor as poignancy and lays bare the challenges Mia has encountered in each of her relationships as well as the breakthroughs, leaving readers in suspense until the final bars.

—— www.shelf-awareness.com

Original and exciting, it is a novel about relationships, life, and the people involved in both.The characters are tangibly real; the plot is fascinating and will cause pages to turn rapidly.Teens and adults alike will find themselves falling in love with Forman's stunning novel

—— Isabel Crevasse , VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates - US) - wwww.voya.com

STARRED REVIEW - Forman excels at inserting tiny but powerful details throughout . . . which will draw readers into this masterful text and undoubtedly tug at even the toughest of heartstrings

—— Kirkus (US)

Beneath this dramatic storyline, which will resonate with older teen readers, Gayle Forman cleverly explores the fragility and uncertainty of life. She does so in an emotive and thoughtful manner that will persuade even the most cynical reader of the importance of friendship, family and love.

—— Waterstone's Books Quarterly

STARRED REVIEW - laced with insight, good humor, and wonder

—— Booklist (US)

If I Stay is one of the most touching, beautiful, heart-breaking books I've ever read.
If I Stay is simply stunning ... definitely a book to add to my favorites.

—— Along for the Ride (Book Review Blog) , http://sarasbookjourney.blogspot.com/2010/05/if-i-stay-by-gayle-forman.html

It would be a hard heart indeed that remained unmoved . . . the tender feelings that Noble engenders in her readers are to be cherished

—— Daily Express

Warner navigates the comic, the philosophical and the socially acute like no other writer we have

—— Independent

Played refreshingly uncliched games with the device of the unreliable narrator

—— Jonathan Coe , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round up

Blake Morrison's examination of the dark heart of male rivalry makes foe a gripping read

—— Aminatta Forna , Sunday Telegraph, Christmas round up

Pacy and gripping...wonderfully atmospheric

—— Good Book Guide

Morrison's compelling study of male competitiveness offers a discomforting account of the amoral excuses and self-deception of the compulsive gambler: "I don't have a problem. I could stop tomorrow"; "gambling is the basis of our whole economy". You reckon you could put it down at any point - though you'd be kidding yourself

—— Alfred Hickling , Guardian

The Bank Holiday weekend from hell is the subject of Blake Morrison's entertaining new novel - a dark little tale about middle-class rivalry and midsummer meltdown. With an ear attuned to metropolitan pretension - modern parenting skills are sent up with gusto - Morrison succeeds in weaving a murderous melodrama that is grounded in the most recognizable of human impulses and desires

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent

A tense chamber piece about a twisted friendship...the author's skilful choreography of unsympathetic characters and a menacing tone make for a sharply intelligent novel that is both unnerving and enjoyable

—— Financial Times

The Last Weekend isn't really a thriller though its well-paced, tight and gripping narrative has you reaching for the same adjectives that you would use to describe one

—— Paul Dunn , The Times

For those holidaying with old friends…the book tells the chilling story ofa rivalrousfriendship…leaving Alex Clark to conclude that Morrison “keeps the reader constantly intrigued

—— Guardian
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