First published 2005
Four sisters grow up under the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Minerva becomes the first to resist, smuggling weapons and organizing opposition groups. Patria finds her faith tested as political violence escalates around her family. María Teresa transforms from a teenager focused on boys and parties into a committed revolutionary. On November 25, 1960, three of the sisters drive to visit their imprisoned husbands. Their Jeep crashes at the bottom of a cliff on the northern coast. The government calls their deaths accidental. Everyone knows better. Only Dedé survives to tell their story. She speaks across decades about her sisters, known throughout the country as Las Mariposas, the Butterflies. The novel reveals how ordinary women become symbols of resistance and the price families pay when they challenge power.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resistance
Setting: Dominican Republic
Period: 1960s
432 pages · Paperback · Plume