THE SOUND OF BUTTERFLIES, by Rachael King

(originally posted on August 16, 2007)

King won a major prize in her native New Zealand for this debut and it's understandable as to why: there's a frayed love story, a chilling mystery and a sense of epic adventure as amateur naturalist Thomas Edgar leaves England in search of elusive butterflies and gets caught up in island rhythms sensual and dangerous. If a book gets me completely lost in its world, of course I have to tell people to read it.