Butterfly's Shadow
Published on 7. July 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-09-954217-9 (ISBN)
Description
Lee Langley's bewitching story of lost hope and thwarted love opens where Puccini's opera ends; with Madame Butterfly - Cho-Cho-San - handing over her beloved son to his American father before killing herself. In America Joey grows up torn between two cultures, haunted, like his parents, by their memories of what really happened on that fateful day.
But just as Joey's fate is inextricably linked with the country of his birth, so too is the fate of America, and both of their paths will ultimately lead to Nagasaki.
But just as Joey's fate is inextricably linked with the country of his birth, so too is the fate of America, and both of their paths will ultimately lead to Nagasaki.
Reviews / Votes
Langley's detailed descriptions of war blaze with brilliance -- Arifa Akbar * Independent * A compelling portrait of a man in search of his lost self -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times * Beautifully written and vividly imagined, this is an impressive achievement -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review * Lee Langley's big, ambitious new novel is a riveting read... and a deeply moving human story -- Deborah Moggach A lovely novel... fragile and beautiful and so finely wrought -- Ruth Padel Her fiction often depicts an interplay of past and present, and here it is used to stunning effect -- Sarah Lawson * The Tablet * The style is graceful and deliciously readable, and the novel ends with an unforgettably eerie and moving image' * Independent *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
422 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-954217-9 (9780099542179)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Lee Langley is the author of nine highly praised novels including Changes of Address (shortlisted for the Hawthornden Prize) and Persistent Rumours (winner of a Commonwealth Writers' prize). Her most recent book was A Conversation on the Quai Voltaire, a volume of short stories, poetry and journalism. Her adaptation 'The Tenth Man', based on a Graham Greene story, was made into an award-winning movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Derek Jacobi. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.