Butterfly is a 2009 young adult fiction novel by Sonya Hartnett about the troubled adolescence of Plum Coyle, set in 1980s Australian suburbia.[1]

Butterfly
First edition
AuthorSonya Hartnett
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult novel
PublisherHamish Hamilton
Publication date
2 April 2009
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages224 pp (paperback, first edition)
ISBN978-0-241-14446-6 (paperback, first edition)
OCLC297800574
Preceded byThe Ghost's Child 
Followed byThe Midnight Zoo 

Plot

edit

Plum Coyle is on the edge of adolescence. Her fourteenth birthday is approaching, when her old life and her old body will fall away, and she will become graceful, powerful, and at ease. The strength of the objects she stores in a briefcase under her bed —a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a coin —will make sure of it. Over the next couple of weeks, Plum’s life will change. Her beautiful neighbor Maureen will begin to show Plum how she might fly. The older brothers she adores will court catastrophe in worlds that she barely knows exist. And her friends, her worst enemies, will tease and test, smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down.

Hartnett uses the suburban landscape as inspiration for many of her books, including Butterfly.[2]

Awards and nominations

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Greenlaw, Lavinia (2009-06-05). "Blooming youth". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  2. ^ McEvoy, Marc (2012-04-28). "There's no place like home". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2023-06-01.