Review: The Patron Saint of Butterflies

The Patron Saint of Butterflies

Cecilia Galante

Honey and Agnes are two very different girls with one very big thing in common: they both live in Mount Blessing, a religious commune. While Agnes has a family with her and she tries to live a saintly life, Honey is by herself and doesn’t care to be a saint.

When Agnes’ Nana Pete comes for a visit and learns that the girls were punished in what the commune calls the “regulation room,” she decides that she’s going to take her grandchildren away. Her plan is suddenly set into motion when Agnes’s brother hurts his fingers and the commune leaders “perform a miracle” to put them back on. So she takes Agnes, her brother, and Honey back into the real world, and there, all of Honey’s questions about her past are answered.

The Patron Saint of Butterflies was hard for me to get into at first. But as the story went on, it was easier to see why the characters acted the way they did and why the plot moved as it did. It was pretty good, but one of those novels that I don’t think I’ll read again. The Patron Saint of Butterflies is, however, a novel worth looking for.