Rebel Heiress: the classic novel first published as LADY OF THE BUTTERFLIES

(Paperback)

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Description

In a tradition which stretches from Daphne du Maurier's The King's General to Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl and Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, this glorious historical novel is based on the life of the great seventeenth-century entomologist, Eleanor Glanville. Born into a world seething with treachery and suspicion, Eleanor Goodricke grows up on the Somerset Levels just after the English Civil Wars, heiress to her late mother's estates and daughter of a Puritan soldier who fears for his brilliant daughter with her dangerous passion for natural history - and for butterflies in particular. Her reckless courage will take her to places where no woman of her day ever dared to go. Her fearless ambition will give her a place in history for all time. But it is her passionate heart which will lead her into a consuming love - and mortal peril.

Reviews

It is a rare talent in an author to be able to mix rigorous historical research with the narrative energies and imagination of a true novelist. Fiona Mountain brings all of these skills to her entrancing Lady of the Butterflies. A vivid and fascinating novel about an extraordinary woman, I was gripped from beginning to end. -- Katie Hickman
Fiona Mountain is a major new talent in the field of historical fiction. This is history told with integrity, with an authentic feel for the period and vividly rounded characters. All the colours and textures of the seventeenth century are eloquently realised here, in wonderful detail, and against this backdrop is set a haunting and tragic narrative. I have come away from this book having learned much about Lady Eleanor Glanville, and butterflies, in the most entertaining way possible. I eagerly await Fiona Mountain`s next book -- Alison Weir
A fascinating story ... richly and brilliantly detailed and full of love -- Elizabeth Buchan
My heart ached as I read this book because I knew at some point I would have to finish it. From the very first sentence I was caught by this wonderful and enchanting story, with a heroine you fall totally in love with and a world that I wish I could live in myself. It is as bewitching and wondrous as butterflies themselves and will be treasured as a read I will never forget. -- Emilia Fox
Lady of the Butterflies is an enjoyable, dramatic and intriguing tale that I found almost impossible to put down. It has a wonderful sense of period and well-observed, compelling characters who I really cared about. Love and passion, in their many forms, are at its heart and as an actress I was particularly drawn to Eleanor Glanville, a strong and emotional woman whose many joys and hardships I fully shared -- Thelma Barlow

Author Bio

Fiona Mountain was a press officer at BBC Radio 1 for ten years. She is the author of three previous novels, but only returned to writing after the birth of her four children. She lives in the Cotswolds with them and her husband, a musician. She is already working on her next novel, based on the life of Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria.