Ruby Rousseau is only twenty two years old and has already
experienced more heartache than a woman twice her age. She
fled from Tarble Women's College the year before just one
semester shy of graduating due to an affair with a tragic
outcome. Now, she's living with her mother and working in
the obituary department of a local newspaper. It's not very
exciting but at least she's safe from her past. Or so she
thinks.
One day that is just like any other day in her life, Ruby
receives a very odd delivery. It is the suitcase of a former
dorm mate named Beth at her college. Ruby had borrowed the
suitcase to take on a trip to Paris with her mother just
before she left college under terrible conditions. The trip
had not happened but apparently Beth had never removed
Ruby's name tag and address from the suitcase.
In trying to return Beth's suitcase to her, Ruby discovers
that Beth has recently gone missing. Ruby finds herself in
the middle of the search for Beth, which also takes her on a
path back into her own past. Even though it is a painful
journey, Ruby is compelled to keep following the various
twists and turns that somehow keep leading to the present.
Was the delivery of the suitcase to Ruby truly a mistake or
the Universe's way of opening Ruby's eyes to what should
have been right in front of her the whole time?
THE BUTTERFLY SISTER is a great read combining mystery,
romance and a hint of the paranormal. Prepare to lose
yourself in the story from the very first page; possibly
even the first sentence. You will be taken on a journey that
shows you both the good and the bad in people while keeping
you on your toes in trying to figure out what exactly is
going on.
THE BUTTERFLY SISTER is the debut novel of Amy Gail Hansen
and, I have to say, she knows what she is doing! Her
characters hold just the right amount of human flaws that
endeared them to me. On top of that, she crafted a wonderful
little twist that I don't believe anyone will see coming
until it is right on top of them!
I love discovering new authors and Amy Gail Hansen is going
on my list of new favorites. You can bet that she will be on
your list, too, once you read THE BUTTERFLY SISTER.
"My past was never more than one thought, one breath, one
heartbeat away. And then, on that particular October
evening, it literally arrived at my doorstep."
In The Butterfly Sister by Amy Gail Hansen—a moving
Gothic tale that intertwines mystery, madness, betrayal,
love, and literature—a fragile young woman must silence the
ghosts of her past.
Ten months after dropping out of
all-girl Tarble College, Ruby Rousseau is still haunted by
the memories of her senior year, a time marred by an affair
with her English professor and a deep depression that caused
her to question her sanity.
When a mysterious suitcase
arrives bearing Ruby's name and address, she tries to return
it to its rightful owner, Beth—a dorm-mate at Tarble—only to
learn that Beth disappeared two days earlier.
With
clues found in the luggage, including a tattered copy of
Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One's Own, which Ruby
believes instigated her madness, she sets out to uncover the
truth.