Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

As soon as I read the synopsis of The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante I knew I would like it.  What is it with me and stories like this?

Agnes and Honey have been best friends since the day they were born.  Both were separated from their parents (Honey is later orphaned) at birth and placed in a communal nursery in order to form a parental attachement to their religious commune leader rather than their own parents.  As they have gotten older, Honey has become more skeptical of the commune, its teachings, and its leader Emmanuel while Agnes has made it her life’s purpose to become a saint and be perfect in every way.  Neither of them can understand why the other believes the way they do.

When Agnes’s grandmother, Nana Pete,  pays them a surprise visit, she learns of a deep secret involving the commune, its leaders, and members.  When Agnes’s brother threatens to lose his hand after a terrible accident and Emmanuel proclaims that he’ll perform a miracle to heal it, Nana Pete secretly takes him, Honey, and Agnes back home with her.  For all three children, it’s the first time that they have ever left the commune.  While Honey relishes in her first Big Mac, Honey fasts and tightens the ropes she has around her stomach to remind her of her sins.  The journey tests their lifelong friendship and reveals some deep dark family secrets.

Before I go on about how much I liked this book, I must admit that it had some problems.  I wanted to see more conflict with Emmanuel.  It was also very predictable.  I guessed the ending from a mile away, although truthfully, it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of it.  I also thought the ending was taking a bit of the easy way out.  I had a hard time believing that Honey would be so accepting of the outcome.  She struggled so much during the book and at the end she seemed fine.  She just went through this lifelong brainwashing and I don’t think it’s that easily shaken off.

Having said that, I loved this book, I could not put it down.   It delves deep into identity, faith, loyalty, abuse and friendship.  It’s intense and emotional.  The characters were believable.  I loved the difference between Agnes and Honey.  How two similiar girls growing up in the same community can turn out to be so different.

But perhaps what I found most fascinating after I read The Patron Saint of Butterflies was visiting Cecilia Galante’s website. I loved her fifty things about me in which she says she once was dared to eat a worm and she did.  But perhaps most important is the fact that she was born and raised until the age of fifteen in a religious commune.  Her FAQ was simply amazing as she recounts her close knit family, how the commune fell apart, and how difficult it was to be out in the “real world.”

I thought I would share with you this question and answer that I thought was particular insightful:

Given your history, when writing your novel were you careful of who and what you were depicting so that it would not appear as if you were replicating any facet of your own life, or was that never a concern?

The bottom line is this: I didn’t want to write a story about my life. I just wanted to write a good story. I remember a certain time, maybe in my early 20’s, when I realized suddenly that my history was rife with possibility. Story-telling possibility, I mean. I spent a good deal of my life feeling ashamed of being so different. (I have yet to meet a person who shares a past similar to mine, although I know they are out there.) My childhood circumstances were unique and took me a great deal of time to embrace that, instead of trying to hide it from the world. But when I accepted it, when I realized that my history was what in fact, made me who I am today, it was much easier to start appreciating it for what it was: a really interesting, at times even fascinating account, instead of something I had to keep a secret. And so I began to write about these interesting, fascinating things. Eventually, they took on a life of their own and as I delved more deeply into it, the characters began to tell me what it was they wanted to do and say, how they wanted to think and feel.

I think when all is said and done, while facets of my own life may have been drawn upon, this story belongs to Agnes and Honey.

The authors back story alone makes this worth the read.

Hey you! Yes. You! I've noticed that you've stopped by to visit a few times! But I don't know who you are. Why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself. Don't be scared. I try not to bite. I know you're a lurker but I'd love to hear your thoughts about what's been bringing you here. And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to never miss a post by subscribing to my feed or receiving updates by email. Thanks for visiting!