Book Review: The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley

The Butterfly Room

by 

Lucinda Riley

Publisher: Pan Macmillan 
Publication date: 23rd April 2019
Pages: 624
RRP: $29.99
Format Read: Uncorrected proof paperback 
Source: Courtesy of the publisher 

 

Posy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living in her beautiful family home, Admiral House, set in the glorious Suffolk countryside where she spent her own idyllic childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father, and raised her own children, Posy knows she must make an agonising 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 Sam’s inept business dealings, and the sudden reappearance of her younger son Nick after ten years in Australia, Posy is reluctant to trust in Freddie’s renewed affection. And unbeknown to Posy, Freddie - and Admiral House - have a devastating secret to reveal . . .

 

The Butterfly Room is a sweeping multi-generational saga of long held secrets, devastating despair and second chances. Riley’s writing is rich and engrossing. Her characters are convincing.

I love stories told in dual time lines as the mysteries and secrets of the past unfold and crash into the present day.

Posy is almost 70 and her family estate is becoming too large and costly for her to handle. If she sells she can help her son Sam with his new property development company and downsize at the same time. But everything Sam has touched has failed. Will this new venture go the same way? Youngest son Nick returns home after 10 years in Australia and the arrival of an old flame in Southwold has Posy filled with indecision and confusion.

The story is filled with burgeoning romances but nothing goes smoothly as secret liaisons are made and shocking secrets are revealed as the past explodes into the present.

Each character had their own distinct personality and we get a very good insight into their lives and their different occupations. I really enjoyed the information on Nick’s antique business and Tammy’s work starting her antique dress shop.

The Butterfly Room is a big book, over 600 pages, however the mysteries are captivating and Riley feeds out snippets of information which had me guessing my own conclusions only to find I was wrong every time.

Riley evokes empathy for her characters but there is also plenty of anger, despair and heart-wrenching emotion, confirming that Riley can elicit a full spectrum of emotions from one book.

Despite its lengthy size The Butterfly Room is a totally engrossing and fast read. I was completely enthralled by the Montagues’ lives.

My rating: 5/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

content: domestic violence. 

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into over thirty five languages and sold fifteen million copies worldwide. She is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

Lucinda is currently writing The Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is based allegorically on the mythology of the famous star constellation. The first five books, The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister and The Moon Sister have all been No.1 bestsellers across the world, and the rights to a multi-season TV series have already been optioned by a Hollywood production company.