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Black Butterflies: A novel Audiobook, by Priscilla Morris Play Audiobook Sample

Black Butterflies: A novel Audiobook

Black Butterflies: A novel Audiobook, by Priscilla Morris Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Rachel Atkins, Priscilla Morris Publisher: Random House Audio Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 4.67 hours at 1.5x Speed 3.50 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: August 2024 Format: Unabridged Audiobook ISBN: 9780593906996

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

11

Longest Chapter Length:

71:28 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

15 seconds

Average Chapter Length:

37:39 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

1

Publisher Description

SHORT-LISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION. A timeless story of strife and hope set during the conflict in the Balkans in the early '90s—a searing debut novel about a woman who faces the war on her doorstep with courage, fierceness, and an unshakable belief in the power of art.

“A reflective novel about dark times that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times.” —Irish Independent


Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect makeshift barricades, splitting the city into ethnic enclaves. Each morning, the people who live there—whether Muslim, Croat, or Serb—push the barriers aside.

When violence erupts and becomes, finally, unavoidable, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety in England. She stays behind, reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a few weeks. As the city falls under siege, everything she loves about her home is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops. Yet Zora and her friends find ways to rebuild themselves, over and over. Told with breathtaking immediacy, this is a story of disintegration, resilience, and hope—a stirring debut from a commanding new voice.

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"A powerful, gripping portrayal from within the siege of Sarajevo of how war first encroaches upon, then obliterates, the perimeters of daily life. In Black Butterflies, Priscilla Morris uses beautiful, tightly-calibrated prose and deep empathy to portray the disbelief, reckoning, resilience, and will to keep living of the besieged inhabitants of Sarajevo and the novel’s fierce, unforgettable protagonist, the painter Zora, who survives with art in the midst of unexpected love and unfathomable loss."

— Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West

Quotes

  • Lucidly and vividly written . . . Feels totally authentic . . . Zora’s paintings, like the existence of this book, are testimony to the way that wars come and go but art goes on forever.

    — Phil Baker, The Sunday Times (U.K.)
  • A moving, compelling, deeply human novel about love, hope, and resilience in a city under siege. Everyone should read it.

    — Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
  • A timely love letter to a war-torn Sarajevo . . . Thoughtful and atmospheric . . . Beautifully drawn . . . This is a reflective novel about dark times that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times.

    — Estelle Birdy, Irish Independent
  • An astonishingly good debut . . . Zora’s story broke my heart, and I hope it will open the hearts of all those who read it, at a time when history is destined to repeat itself.

    — Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties
  • Black Butterflies is incredible, a must-read. There are few novels that stay with you after the final page is read, but this is one. Brutal yet also uplifting, immersive and real, it shows what the human spirit is capable of.

    — Karen Angelico, author of Everything We Are
  • If you want a story of hope persisting through hardship, read Black Butterflies.

    — Katie Rosseinsky, Stylist
  • An intensely evocative and deeply moving debut—I held my breath as I read.

    — Ruth Gilligan, author of The Butchers’ Blessing
  • Brilliantly evokes a world slipping, day by day, under the surface of the opaque waters of war. Dark yet starkly beautiful, Black Butterflies . . . is at once a testament to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Sarajevo, to the power of art, and to Morris’s skills as a storyteller.

    — Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man
  • A gripping, heartbreaking yet hopeful tale of human resilience, compassion, and the haunting devastations of war. A book that will stay with you for a long time.

    — Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls
  • Lucidly and vividly written . . . Feels totally authentic . . . Zora’s paintings, like the existence of this book, are testimony to the way that wars come and go but art goes on forever.

    — Phil Baker, The Sunday Times (U.K.)
  • A moving, compelling, deeply human novel about love, hope, and resilience in a city under siege. Everyone should read it.

    — Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
  • A timely love letter to a war-torn Sarajevo . . . Thoughtful and atmospheric . . . Beautifully drawn . . . This is a reflective novel about dark times that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times.

    — Estelle Birdy, Irish Independent
  • An astonishingly good debut . . . Zora’s story broke my heart, and I hope it will open the hearts of all those who read it, at a time when history is destined to repeat itself.

    — Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties
  • Black Butterflies is incredible, a must-read. There are few novels that stay with you after the final page is read, but this is one. Brutal yet also uplifting, immersive and real, it shows what the human spirit is capable of.

    — Karen Angelico, author of Everything We Are
  • If you want a story of hope persisting through hardship, read Black Butterflies.

    — Katie Rosseinsky, Stylist
  • An intensely evocative and deeply moving debut—I held my breath as I read.

    — Ruth Gilligan, author of The Butchers’ Blessing
  • Brilliantly evokes a world slipping, day by day, under the surface of the opaque waters of war. Dark yet starkly beautiful, Black Butterflies . . . is at once a testament to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Sarajevo, to the power of art, and to Morris’s skills as a storyteller.

    — Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man
  • The stirring story of a community’s heroic efforts to maintain its humanity during the siege of Sarajevo . . . Morris’s prose vibrates with love for the singular city, dotted with Hapsburg spires, Islamic arches, and the onion domes of Serbian Orthodox churches; and for its residents, [who] cling tenaciously to the ideal of a multiethnic metropolis. The world she crafts is perfectly rendered, and it amounts to a poignant love letter to Sarajevo and to the human spirit. This one is tough to shake.

    — Publishers Weekly (starred)
  • Stunning. . . . An unforgettable portrait of an artist and her community under siege. . . . This astonishing novel will linger with readers long after the last page. Morris’s exceptional storytelling marks her as a writer to watch.

    — Rebecca Hopman, Booklist (starred) 
  • The stirring story of a community’s heroic efforts to maintain its humanity during the siege of Sarajevo. . . . Morris’s prose vibrates with love for the singular city, dotted with Hapsburg spires, Islamic arches, and the onion domes of Serbian Orthodox churches; and for its residents, [who] cling tenaciously to the ideal of a multiethnic metropolis. The world she crafts is perfectly rendered, and it amounts to a poignant love letter to Sarajevo and to the human spirit. This one is tough to shake.

    — Publishers Weekly (starred)

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About Rachel Atkins

Rachel Atkins, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is also an actress, known for Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Broken Sword: Circle of Blood, and Pompeii: The Last Day.