The Butterfly Room

An Enchanting Tale of Long-Buried Secrets from the Author of The Seven Sisters Series

De: Lucinda Riley

Narrado por: Kristin Atherton

Beautifully read by Kristin Atherton.

A spellbinding, muligenerational story set between the 1950s and the present, The Butterfly Room is an enchanting tale of heartbreaking secrets from Lucinda Riley, international bestselling author of the Seven Sisters series.

'Captivating . . . poignant yet uplifting' – Woman's Own

Posy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living in her beautiful Suffolk family home, Admiral House, she is surrounded by memories of her idyllic childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father, and of raising her own children. But Posy knows she must make an agonizing decision.

Despite the memories the house holds, and the exquisite garden she has spent twenty-five years creating, the house is crumbling around her, and Posy knows the time has come to sell it.

Then a face appears from the past – Freddie, her first love, who abandoned her and left her heartbroken fifty years ago. Already struggling to cope with her son’s inept business dealings, and the sudden reappearance of her younger son after ten years in Australia, Posy is reluctant to trust in Freddie’s renewed affection. And, unbeknown to Posy, Freddie has a devastating secret to reveal . . .

'A perfect beach read' – Daily Mail

'Prepare to be intrigued, moved to tears and ultimately uplifted' – Lancashire Evening Post

Reseñas de la Crítica

Absorbing family sagas set in glamorous locations . . . A perfect beach read.

Captivating . . . This multi-generational tale is a poignant yet uplifting novel that strikes just the right balance with its tone and characters.

Riley brings us a cast of exquisitely drawn characters and as you slip effortlessly into their lives and share their hopes, dreams and fears, prepare to be intrigued, moved to tears . . . and ultimately uplifted

A warm, romantic read

This multi-generational story is the perfect summer read

Perfect summer escapism, with twists galore. (Best Magazine, on The Love Letter)

Trauma trigger + fairy tale ending

I wouldn't mind the trauma of Posy, it began with a nice scene with her dad, with a different ending, the realisation, that the butterflies were not just held captive for a few hours and let out to the open air after that, i would thing what a great foreshadow of a murderer...

Because Posy's mom was really bad at her role as a mother, i would agree, Posy is a bad, slightly better, but still bad mom herself... BUT NOOOO, she just seems to be a perfect mom with full of love, even able to show it, able to be consistent with right and wrong. She seems to struggle a bit with boundaries, like letting Sam robbing her most likely every now and then... And that part was the trigger, the daughter in law was working hard, she would be better of without Sam in financal situations, he was not helping her with raising the children, he was just stealing her time, money and energy... Because it is a novel, i was ready to read, she is somehow still in love with Sam... But it is fvck!ng written there, that she sometimes hates him, as you should in this situations... I haven't read enough, "i love you, i am so sorry... now i am being super dad for the children for at least an hour, so your codependency doesn't waver too much". I was listening to it at work, usually i relisten books at home, so i know, what i missed (no time to adjust volume etc), but with this one i couldn't bring myself to spend of my valued freetime listening to it. So i might have missed such scenes.

But man i wished i saw her struggle with self worth and everything which would make sense, why she doesn't love herself and her children enough to get a divorce... I was quite sure, Posy would give her shelter till she finds a better flat or whatever; i was hoping to Posy and Nick to speak ill of Sam, like the scapegoating would explain why Sam is such a j3rk. Idk, maybe Sam has too many things in common with his dad and Posy is so fond of her son, who were not effected with his fathers charm, and seeing Nick looking like and acting like his dad, or missing him, giving the vibes Sam likes his dad more than his mom, making her miss him more... I am not sure, how happy i were with this solution... BUT it would be so much better, than there is a perfect mom, some kind of trauma with loosing a dad and growing up without him... as a babysitter i saw, if the children after divoce got more violent or were becoming more shy, and this perfect mom, she just couldn't see ANYTHING, no clue, that his 3x years old son has drinking problems? She realises, when he comes home drunk, after her daughter in law tells her, he doesn't have a job, again... And really, no clue?
Nick was bullied and he only wonders, why his sister in law hasn't got divorced yet, but never asking the woman herself, "hey... i know, my bro was young, and we develope as person as time goes by... but you know, when we were reeeaally young... yeah silli to ask, but you know... better to be safe then sorry... please don't think it as mean... but has he ever... i mean when he is drunk, he doesn't always know, what he is doing... has he ever hit... it silly, has he though?"
It would make the story longer, more pages to get paid for... why??? It is written sooo many times, the reason first love disappeared without a word must be kept as a secret till the grave... And it was annyoing, and those sentences i wrote just now, were not fitting in the plot? Why?

Spoilers

The last straw was the scene, when the bills were not paid and she (i don't know her name, wife of Sam, i was just hating the woman). The "savior" was rude with her on their first meeting. I couldn't rewind the part, i dk what the problem was, but i think it wasn't even her fault, but some of her coworkers... and he is rude as hell with her. BUT he runs after her and apologieses for being an a55hole? nooo that is not romantic... i mean of course bad day, tired, a second chance is OK, but not like THIS -.-;
A woman physically and mentally abused for years, is having a nervous break down, hearing "i just want to cuddle" is so fucking dangereous, and still mostly because it is only a book and not real life, i would say 1% of 100% has a woman like this luck to meet a complete stranger, who is past his trauma and acts like a gentlemen should do in this kind of situation. A fvcking cup of hot chocklate and a blanket, and i listen to you, if you want to speak, i stay with you, till one of us falls asleep, maybe a pat on the head... NOT CUDDLE, it is the perfect recipe to jump from one narcisist/abuser/emotionally not available/any kind of horrible person to another similar f. up one. And no, it doesn't count, that he was nice with the children, he was horny! He was acting, a normal human being can act for half a year, like Sam did before the children were born!!!! I don't mind telling a realistic story about women needing therapy, not even thinking about it, because men usually exploit women... But then if she doesn't change, then don't give them an undeserved happy ending, you know a real happy ending type of guy would even be hardest as he ever was and would say: "you are hurt, and i don't wan to be a j3rk and take adventage of you and your situation, if you feel better and still find me attractive, i will be so happy to jump in bed with you, and i promise, we won't get out for a day, i find babysitters/nanny, we will have a great time". The man posed as a savior is a man without respect and empathy... And what the hell you expect from a relationship beginning with cheating? If i got broke, she finds a more succesfull writer or sleeps with a doctor? NOOO, stupid man...

The "hero" son, the "dreams of the girls..." -.-; Nick is also a piece of sh!t. Having that daughter with the married coworker, not being able to tell anything about them to his "love of his life"... I mean, not even a short text: "hey babe, i know tonight was really important to you, but i don't think i can make it". At this point i wasn't sure, if they are really going to be together... It would have been fine with me, that he is better with money, than his brother, but he is as fvcked up as his bro, when it comes to emotions. And Posy all knowing this, questioning, what she did wrong, when they were younger... Nick is more of a human being and Sam is more of a monster, but i would not point at any of the love stories, here dream about these, maybe you get lucky too.


And the old man... i was not finding the first part, when he tells about the love affair between Posy's mom and his dad, my coworker, who suggested me this book told me, that yeah ppl in the past were so nice with each other... and i am a ppl pleaser, i cannot confront others, and i know, she was also in a toxic relationship for 11 years, she thinks, she is healed... maybe because she thinks this book is wonderful, she is, but i think if she really was, she would say, ppl don't work like this most of the time, it is too fairy tale like, and that makes it beautiful. BUT NO, she thinks it is so lovely, because it is true, you can find true love at your lowest point of your life, making a huge mistake, if it is not love, just lust, but because it feels love, you are hurt you are eager to have any sort of kindness... and it is love, no mistake cheating on the abuser, no mistake having everything after meeting a men for 5 hours max. If you are so abused you should really get to know the other person more, before doing the devils tango...
So my coworker thinks, ghosting the love of your life, because you care about her is OK. My problems: it was his father who was killed, she deserved to know, if her dad was still alive, just in jail. They must have had friends back then, couldn't he find somebody knowing Posy longer then him, and ask this person, heeey, what do you think, can Posy handle this?
He is the one suffered of losing a dad, seeing the mom going through stuff. I would think to have a kind of mixed feelings about i hate this man, but the love of my life adores him and cannot even imagine he could kill a butterfly, she was so shocked about it, but she was only 7 years old... She must know now, her dad was faulty as any other human being... still i need time to process the feeling, she is the daughter of that monster, and knowing, that doesn't mean she is also a monster, that is only a feeling for betrayel and not a real betrayel. At least "I got some family issue news, i wish i could tell you more about this, but please trust me, we cannot be together". The part i listened to was telling me, he had NEVER any negative feeling towards her, he just wanted to keep her save.
And i know, it was a big deal, her perfect dad would kill so many butterflies... But if the dad died in the war (i was thinking this while listening), he was most likely a serial killer, in war kill or die... I think it wasn't really news, that PTSD changed soldiers. "BTW your dad is alive, if you want to visit him, he is in Germany, because he would be in jail killing my dad, because of jealousy not anything to do with the war... " idk, for me it was kind of, "who cares?": you can say, you didn't know, they are the same person, i thought the names are only coincidents. In the mindset, the dad was dead, i thought, just keep the fvcking secret, dude and be happy, if you are not angry with her for real. Knowing he must have been alive as the ghosting happened.
Dude, she loved her dad, she wanted to see him, at least give her hope to meet him again as adults, have some deep conversations, so she knows everything she misunderstood in his dad, like for research or whatever showing of your research it is important to kill magestic insects...
It would have been her decesion to close an eye and say, "my dad had a doppelgänger, he killed the dad of my love, what a shame", or "i do everything in my power to find my dad and talk to him and maybe call the police on him, because my childhood was just a dream about this man, but he is an evil person"... or whatever there could be so many options in between...
She hated her mom too. And i agree, her mom was a monster. PTSD or not having a role in killing jealousy i don't care; but it could have been an argument, which ended in a lethal accident... There could have been so many solutions, which doesn't mean 50 years of ghosting. I mean if it is real love... if it was just lust and he never loved Posy, it is fine, but then don't make it a damn happy ending, it is sad, that after 50 years, this woman still didn't learn, how to love herself enough to avoid j3rks in her life.

Credit returned.