Bernie McGill

This book is really something special and reading it has proved total addiction as the author plays expertly with my emotions often leading me down the path of utter shock. What at first glance might seem a pleasant tale about the inhabitants of Rathlin island welcoming Mr Marconi and is magical wireless telegraphy soon turns into an altogether sinister affair.

Nuala Byrne living alone on the island (having been deserted by her family when they moved to Newfoundland) is content to wed Ned show more McQuaid, the Tailor even though he is 30 years her senior. She is however attracted to the fact that he is a man of some means and living in a well built house. When Gabriele Donati arrives on Rathlin to help oversee and utilise this new technology Nuala finds herself strangely attracted to him and now has time to reflect that maybe her marriage to the Tailor was a mistake. To say much more about the plot would spoil the hidden surprises, and the decisions that Nuala Byrne is about to make will alter her life and have a lasting impact on many of the inhabitants.

After a truly exceptional opening prologue the first part of the book shows an island slowing acknowledging and accepting the genius that is Marconi. This idyll is soon to be shattered by an evil act and the unravelling of the mind of a pretty young girl. Bernie McGill has the ability to retain a strong hold on the reader and there is no doubt that she is in total control, at times offering false security only to have this eroded by the evil that men do. There is some wonderful prose...."I was to lie quietly in the dark on my wedding night, it advised, and await my husband's arrival. I was to desist from moving around too much until the act of consummation was complete."...."It'll double as a christening robe when the time comes, she said winking at me. That's if the Tailor has any juice left in him."....."The tremble that grows and passes between us is like the first test notes of the fiddle, the song warming in the singer's throat, the drumming on the skin of the bodhran, till we find a rhythm that suits us both"......"He looks like a painted wooden puppet whose strings have all been cut. He looks like all the movement have left him."

Many thanks to good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. Highly recommended. show less

What a haunting tale. This sad story is told in two voices; that of a nanny who used to work in the household and through the diaries of the mother of a child who died at the hands of her punishment. Harriet, the mother, is a woman who really never should have never had children and is married to man who is half a child himself. A product of their times, their status and their religion Harriet has a baby just about every year. She is shocked both that she enjoys what goes into creating the show more children and at their behavior. She wants them to be perfect. After a string of boys she has Charlotte who is completely contrary and does not behave as they boys have done.

The tale alternates between nanny Maddie's explanation in current times and the prison diaries that Harriet wrote after being convicted of causing Charlotte's death. Nanny Maddie is a soft and cuddly character and Harriet is cold and unforgiving. And yet Ms. McGill allows through her writing - even though I really didn't want it to happen - for a certain sympathy to arise for Harriet. I truly wanted to hate her but I couldn't. She had miserable parents and a husband who did nothing to help. He was afraid of her. She left me very conflicted. She was basically a serial child abuser! The writing is exceptional, the characters are fascinating. It's a book I will keep to read again. They are few and far between for me with all of the books that I read.

The Butterfly Cabinet is not a happy story but I find myself thinking about it even now - a week after I finished reading it. The characters stay with you. The ending is a perfect weaving together of past and present. show less

The Butterfly Cabinet tells the eerie tale of two different women and one horrible event that ties them together forever. Maddie McGlade is a former nanny that is just now sharing her secrets from the past and telling her story to an old family friend. Alongside Maddie's memories is the prison journal of her former employer Harriet, who was sent to prison for the murder of her four year old daughter. Both stories intertwine to create a mesmerizing tale that is both dark and haunting.

Wow! The show more author of this book created atmosphere in spades that allowed me to be pulled deep into the novel. The Butterfly Cabinet is one of those books that you go into from the beginning knowing that the ending can't be good, that bad things may happen, but yet you still want to read it. And the author creates such a rich atmosphere that I felt like I was part of the book...like I was in the prison walls with Harriet and in the old castle with Maddie. I loved the way that the two stories that the women shared (one in memories and the other through her journal) complemented each other and allowed for what really happened to four year old Charlotte to come out at the end. This book wasn't a page turner in the normal sense, but instead I was content to just take my time and allow the author to draw me along with the story that she was telling. It ended up being a solid read for me that had me thinking about it days after it ended. The characters really stuck with me long after I closed the pages of this book. This is an author that I want to read more of and I would definitely recommend!

Bottom Line: A haunting tale that drew me into its' pages!

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book for review from the publisher as part of a blog tour for Free Press Blog Tours. show less

I like Gothic; I like Victorian; I liked this novel.

Inspired by real events at Cromore House in the 1800's, where 3-year-old Mary Helen Montagu died, this tale is told through multiple POV's, the most prevalent being that of Maddie McGlade, now 92 years old and in a Northern Ireland nursing home, and the jail journals of Harriet Ormond, a casually cruel mother of a child that died while being punished for what Harriet perceived as bad behavior.

This will not be for everyone, but as the tale show more unfolds, it's sad and eerie all at once. I wondered why no one intervened - why no one stepped up to the plate to defend this little girl and her siblings. It's an all-too-real occurrence even now.

The writing itself is wonderful; some may find it a bit slow, but I think the pace was spot on, especially given the type of tale it is.

QUOTE (from a galley; may be different in final copy):

I felt sorry for the Mistress and I cried for her. I cried for her loss of Charlotte and her loss of the boys and her loss of the Master, and for the days she spent in prison and for the misery of her sad lonely life.

Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars show less