{"product_id":"black-butterflies-isbn-9780593688038","title":"Black Butterflies","description":"\u003cb\u003eSHORT-LISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION. A timeless story of strife and hope set during the conflict in the Balkans in the early '90s—a searing debut novel about a woman who faces the war on her doorstep with courage, fierceness, and an unshakable belief in the power of art. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A reflective novel . . . that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times.” —\u003ci\u003eIrish Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect makeshift barricades, splitting the city into ethnic enclaves. Each morning, the people who live there—whether Muslim, Croat, or Serb—push the barriers aside.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen violence erupts and becomes, finally, unavoidable, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety in England. She stays behind, reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a few weeks. As the city falls under siege, everything she loves about her home is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops. Yet Zora and her friends find ways to rebuild themselves, over and over. Told with breathtaking immediacy, this is a story of disintegration, resilience, and hope—a stirring debut from a commanding new voice.“\u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies \u003c\/i\u003emakes the case for art in times of war. . . . [It] wrests beauty and hope out of suffering. . . . Morris is a brilliant writer of place. Her Sarajevo is finely drawn, as vividly rendered as Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo. . . . It is a work of literature that transforms horror and violence into a life force.” \u003cb\u003e—Bea Setton, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A moving, compelling, deeply human novel about love, hope, and resilience in a city under siege. Everyone should read it.”\u003cb\u003e —Emma Stonex, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Lamplighters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A gripping, heartbreaking yet hopeful tale of human resilience, compassion, and the haunting devastations of war. A book that will stay with you for a long time.” \u003cb\u003e—Cecile Pin, author of \u003ci\u003eWandering Souls\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Exquisitely crafted, it pulses with tension: we couldn’t stop turning the pages.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eRachel Joyce, on behalf of the judges of the Women’s Prize for Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lucidly and vividly written. . . . Feels totally authentic. . . . Zora’s paintings, like the existence of this book, are testimony to the way that wars come and go but art goes on forever.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e (U.K.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“The scent of baklava, the reassuring rustle of forests, streets lulled with folk tales—these are the memories that haunt this tender first novel, a tribute to a martyred Sarajevo. . . . It is a vibrant fresco of the history of this ‘town where everyone loved each other,’ and depicts the unbreakable bonds of a community held together by horror. Love flourishes even amid the rubble.” \u003cb\u003e—Josephine Carcopino, \u003ci\u003eLe Monde\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Poignant. . . . Wise. . . . Compelling. . . . \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e is a historical portrait as well as a character one. . . . Morris is savvy in her story craft.” \u003cb\u003e—Malavika Praseed, \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e★ \u003c\/b\u003e“Stunning. . . . Unforgettable. . . . This astonishing novel will linger with readers long after the last page. Morris’s exceptional storytelling marks her as a writer to watch.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \u003c\/b\u003e“A compelling debut. . . . Contains episodes of page-turning uncertainty and heartbreaking pathos.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e★ \u003c\/b\u003e“The stirring story of a community’s heroic efforts to maintain its humanity. . . . The world she crafts is perfectly rendered, and it amounts to a poignant love letter to Sarajevo and to the human spirit. This one is tough to shake.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you want a story of hope persisting through hardship, read \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eStylist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Both devastating and beautiful, infused with a sense of hope. . . . \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of how art sustains and gives purpose in moments of desolation and terror.” —\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A powerful, gripping portrayal from within the siege of Sarajevo of how war first encroaches upon, then obliterates, the perimeters of daily life. In \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e, Priscilla Morris uses beautiful, tightly-calibrated prose and deep empathy to portray the disbelief, reckoning, resilience, and will to keep living of the besieged inhabitants of Sarajevo and the novel’s fierce, unforgettable protagonist, the painter Zora, who survives with art in the midst of unexpected love and unfathomable loss.” \u003cb\u003e—Aube Rey Lescure, author of \u003ci\u003eRiver East, River West\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e is incredible, a must-read. There are few novels that stay with you after the final page is read, but this is one. Brutal yet also uplifting, immersive and real, it shows what the human spirit is capable of.” \u003cb\u003e—Karen Angelico, author of \u003ci\u003eEverything We Are\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Beautifully drawn. . . . Thoughtful and atmospheric. . . . This is a reflective novel about dark times that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eIrish Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Astonishingly good. . . . Zora’s story broke my heart, and I hope it will open the hearts of all those who read it, at a time when history is destined to repeat itself.” \u003cb\u003e—Liz Nugent, author of \u003ci\u003eOur Little Cruelties\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Brilliantly evokes a world slipping, day by day, under the surface of the opaque waters of war. Dark yet starkly beautiful, \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e . . . is at once a testament to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Sarajevo, to the power of art, and to Morris’s skills as a storyteller.” \u003cb\u003e—Aminatta Forna, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hired Man\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An intensely evocative and deeply moving debut—I held my breath as I read.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ruth Gilligan, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Butchers’ Blessing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"The best contemporary novel I have read for a long while and also chillingly resonant with the scenes unfolding in Ukraine, Black Butterflies is a book for our time.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sarah Burton, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Adventures of H\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“\u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e paints a portrait of a devastating moment in history, but also of one woman’s capacity for beauty and resilience. An intensely evocative and deeply moving debut—I held my breath as I read.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRuth Gilligan, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Butchers’ Blessing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Beautifully written and hauntingly evocative, \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e distills into a single consciousness a nation’s violent trauma and an artist’s sense of hope. Rich and highly accomplished.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sam Byers, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eIdiopathy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“An elegy to the vibrant and inclusive society that was subjected to a murderous assault in 1992. It comes at an apt time because it testifies to the ease and speed with which things can fall apart.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eKevin Sullivan, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Longest Winter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Incredibly affecting . . . superbly researched and beautifully written. It could not be more topical.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Paula McGrath, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eA History of Running Away\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePriscilla Morris is a British author of Bosnian and Cornish parentage. She grew up in London, spending summers in Sarajevo, and studied at Cambridge University and the University of East Anglia. She teaches creative writing and divides her time between Ireland and Spain. Inspired by real-life accounts of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992–96), \u003ci\u003eBlack Butterflies\u003c\/i\u003e is her debut novel. It was short-listed for the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, the Wilbur Smith Prize, the Nota Bene Prize and the Women’s Prize 2023.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48232984445157,"sku":"NP9780593688038","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593688038.jpg?v=1767722682","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/black-butterflies-isbn-9780593688038","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}