I read the background about the heroine prior to beginning the novel. What an amazing woman! The story begins with Eleanor outdoors where she longs to be. She loves studying the insects, the animals and birds but most especially she loves butterflies. Her mother and sister have died and she has only her father who cultivates and encourages her love of the outdoors and studying all things scientifically. When he becomes ill with ague (malaria), she is devastated. He dies and she grows up studying always as he would wish her to do.

Growing up on the moor, she collects insects, plants and whatever she wants to investigate. Her guardian is the man from whom her father borrowed money. He wants her to marry someone who will drain the marsh to make the land more valuable. She falls in love with Edmund Ashfield, a handsome calm individual who is intrigued by her interests. Eventually they marry. When Edmund dies of ague, too, Eleanor is heart broken. Even though she is strongly attracted to his best friend, Richard Glanville, who loves her she avoids him for five years.

Because her interests are so different from other women of her class, Eleanor is viewed as being strange. Rumors begin circulate about her being a witch and/or mad but she ignores them. She continues her study of butterflies and cultivates a friendship with James Petiver who shares her fascination of these lovely creatures.

The life of this unusual woman is fraught with sadness and conflict. She finds happiness with her children and butterflies. I loved the story - perhaps because Eleanor had the courage to follow her interests in spite of those around her. She is brought to trial and declared insane. Fine, fine read.

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First Line: They say I am mad and perhaps it's true.


Eleanor Glanville's father fought with Cromwell in the English Civil War. Although she had a stern Puritan upbringing, her father also educated her in the sciences-- a very rare occurrence in the seventeenth century. The estate upon which she grew up was mostly marshland in Somerset, and Eleanor always craved to be outdoors. This craving ultimately led to her love of and obsession with butterflies.

Through two marriages and four children, she became one of the world's foremost lepidopterists (authorities on butterflies). Do we know her name? No. Do we know that she's responsible for naming several species of butterflies? No. Why? Because her second husband and her children were people of their time who said she was mad and called her a witch. Mad people are not remembered. Witches are forgotten.

That is, until Fiona Mountain spent three years researching Eleanor Glanville in order to tell her remarkable story. No known portrait of Eleanor exists, but I feel as if I know her after listening to her telling me her story.

At 516 pages, I feel that the story could have been told in many less. For me, the weakest part of the story was Eleanor's childbearing years where she spent almost every waking minute trying to please husband and children or, when a widow, trying not to lust after the man she really loved.

The book did come to life when Eleanor was a child discovering the wildlife in the marshes and learning how important it was to protect the land as it was for the butterflies she loved. I also loved the sections when she met and corresponded with James Petiver, a fellow lepidopterist. Their passion for butterflies fueled their thirst for knowledge and discovery. One scene in particular will stay with me for a long time: a maid walking into a room to discover Eleanor and one of her children with dozens of butterflies floating in the sun-filled space.

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a scientific angle about an amazing woman whose life's story was almost lost should enjoy Lady of the Butterflies.

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