The Glass Butterfly by Louise Marley
Publishing
September 2012
Every book tells a story
within a story and the stories in this story are good. Have you ever wondered how
far you would go to protect yourself and those you love? I’ll bet you have, I
know that I have. The main character in this story is Victoria Lake, a
therapist, who has surmised, correctly, that one of her clients has committed a
horrible crime. Only her client is a psychopath who is not so inclined to do
the right thing and turn herself in to the police because she is part of the
police, nice twist. This in itself would be a good story, but Marley has added
another layer or two to the story.
The first layer is the
story of Tory Lake and her son. It is a story of love, estrangement and loss. This is the
weakest of the stories. There are hints and innuendoes as to why the
estrangement which eventually comes to the front and is explained. The love of
a mother for her son forms the premise of just how far she will go to protect
him.
The most fascinating story
is the story of the glass butterfly. The glass butterfly is a butterfly that is
trapped in a piece of Murano glass which has come to Tory from her grandmother.
Her grandmother’s story is told in a series of dreams that Tory is having. This
is an unusual way to tell a back story, but works beautifully in this book.
When Tory flees for her
life and to protect her son, she takes the butterfly with her and it becomes a
tails man for her. It is also a symbolic representation of what Tory’s life has
become. Her grandmother was trapped, the butterfly is trapped and she feels
trapped. Her decisions are based upon this felling. It’s interesting, because
in the story, her grandmother was trapped by the times that she lived in she
could not change those times and had very few options opened to her. Her life
was proscribed by her birth and by the village she lived in. Tory had a life
where everything was opened to her and in many ways made choices as though her
life was proscribed by what she thought was her fe or magic.
In the story, Tory flees
as far as can and attempts to make a new life for herself. When she left her
old life, her friends and family thought she was dead. Her son, and the crazy
police lady, did not really buy into the story of her death. They believed the
old saying, “the story of my death is greatly exaggerated” While Tory is
building a new life and trying to figure out the meaning of her dreams, these
two are doing everything that they can to find her. It is a good read. Tory finds
more than she bargained for and is better off because of it.
This is a book that reads
well and will have you thinking about the characters long after you finish it.
I enjoyed it. Could the story have been told differently or better? Maybe. I
think that the back stories were fascinating. I would have liked more depth to
some of them, but overall this is a good read and it will not disappoint you. I know that I would go as far as Tory went to protect myself !
