The Butterfly Beats Its Wings

'With rich settings, finely drawn characters and skillful storytelling, this impressive debut is a winner' Tracy Chevalier, author of The Glass Maker

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1972. The Philippines. Teenager Grace is a loving daughter, tending to chores and caring for younger siblings. But when her family becomes caught in a conflict that threatens their place in the village, Grace is forced to make an unspeakable decision.

Fifty years later, in England, her adult daughter Nina has still not moved on from her own troubled youth. From her struggles to fit in to the loss of her best friend, she has spent a decade avoiding her childhood home and the memories that haunt her.

Brought together at a family reunion, Nina sees a chance to reconnect with her mother. But Grace has her own secrets that might stand in the way. Secrets tangled in her heritage that lead back to the witch doctors and headhunting tribes of the Philippines…

A sweeping and intimate story about trust, renewal, and confronting mistakes of the past.

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Praise for The Butterfly Beats its Wings

‘A beautifully haunting, deeply evocative story about identity, memory, and the ghosts we carry’ Freya Sampson

‘Atmospheric, creepy, heartbreaking and healing. You will not want to put it down’ Natalie Gregory

‘An immersive novel that explores how history is always never that far behind us.’ Mahsuda Snaith

‘Visceral, tender, and impossible to forget’ Hannah Tovey