Butterfly

Here is Plum Coyle, on the threshold of adolescence, striving to be new. Her fourteenth birthday is approaching: her old life and her old body will fall away, and she will become graceful, powerful, at ease. The strength in the objects she stores in a briefcase under her bed—a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a penny—will make sure of it.

Over the next couple of weeks, Plum’s life will change. Her beautiful neighbor, Maureen, will begin to show her how she might fly. The older brothers she adores—the charismatic Justin, the enigmatic Cydar—will court catastrophe in worlds that she barely knows exist. And her friends—her worst enemies—will tease and test, smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down.

Butterfly is a gripping, disquieting, beautifully observed coming-of-age novel by an acclaimed author at the top of her form.