Butterfly

Author(s): Sonya Hartnett

Penguin Spinner Fiction | Australian author

In masterful prose, the author of SURRENDER tells a quiet but powerful tale about the shifting bonds and psychological perils of adolescence. (Ages 14 and up)


 


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. BUTTERFLY is a gripping, disquieting, beautifully observed coming-of-age novel by an acclaimed author at the top of her form.

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Product Information

Shortlisted for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2010.

Kate writes: Set in suburban Australia, Butterfly tells the intrusive and unnerving story of Plum Coyle, later dubbed Aria who is approaching her fourteenth birthday after which she hopes her old life, awkward body and best friends (or worst enemies) will be a thing of the past. Maureen seems to understand Plum's plight and she makes a coveted friend, yet that friendship is guided by other motives. Hartnett's dramatic observation of the transition from childhood to young adulthood and of family dynamics will appeal to an audience well beyond the age of the protagonist.

Sonya Hartnett's work has won numerous Australian and international literary prizes and has been published around the world. Uniquely, she is acclaimed for her stories for adults, young adults and children. Her accolades include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Of A Boy), The Age Book of the Year (Of A Boy), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (Thursday's Child), the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for both Older and Younger Readers (Forest, The Silver Donkey, The Ghost's Child, The Midnight Zoo and The Children of the King), the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Surrender), shortlistings for the Miles Franklin Award (for both Of a Boy and Butterfly) and the CILP Carnegie Medal (The Midnight Zoo). Hartnett is also the first Australian recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2008). In 2014, Hartnett will publish both a new novel for adults, Golden Boys, and her third picture book, The Wild One. Visit sonyahartnett.com.au for more

General Fields

  • : 9780143203056
  • : PENGUIN AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
  • : Penguin
  • : 0.175
  • : September 2009
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : [Fic]
  • : Paperback
  • : Sonya Hartnett