On In the Time of the Butterflies

These three brave sisters and their husbands stood in stark contrast to the self-saving actions of my own family and of other Dominican exiles. Because of this, the Mirabal sisters haunted me.
Julia Alvarez


Shortly after setting off on my quest to learn everything I could about Latino and Latina literature, several persons raved to me about How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, the work of a new novelist named Julia Alvarez. I purchased a copy and, although I enjoyed The García Girls, the book had been so exalted that I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed after I finished reading it; I had been set up to expect much more. I did, though, like many things about the novel. Still, it was not the sterling classic some readers were making it out to be. But I did see one thing, and most clearly: as a writer, Julia Alvarez had enormous potential, and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents left me wanting more.

A couple of weeks prior to the publication of In the Time of the Butterflies, a review appeared in The Charlotte Observer. I can no longer recall what the reviewer had to say about the Dominican-American’s novel, but the critique inspired me to make a special trip to the bookstore the very morning of the book’s release, and I started to read In the Time of the Butterflies that same day. From the opening paragraph I was hooked. Alvarez’s wistful recreation of the lives of the Mirabal sisters is, indeed, a truly remarkable feat.

More impressively, in between novels Alvarez had grown considerably in her craft. The Butterflies is a stunningly beautiful and touching historical novel in which Alvarez vividly captures the voices or, better yet, the souls of the noble sisters—victims of Rafael Trujillo’s brutal stewardship of the Dominican Republic.

And to this day, whenever anyone asks me what’s the first U.S. Latino or Latina novel they should read, without hesitation I reply, “In the Time of the Butterflies.”