IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES by Julia Alvarez

YA/PBK

by Julia Alvarez

This book embodies the wonder, horror and mystique of the era of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. It tells the heroically heart-breaking, perhaps mythic story of the Mirabel sisters, enemies to the Failed Cattle Thief, folk heroes to the pueblo. The story is told in flashback, beginning in the present day with an interview with the one surviving sister. The story then launches into a chronological build-up to the sisters’ acts of resistance toward the ruthless dictator. This is an engrossing tale that will appeal to fans of history and magical realism, or anyone who admires strong women’s defiance in the face of heavy oppression

THE GIRLS by Lori Lansens

FIC
LANSENS

"I have never looked into my sister's eyes." So begins this remarkable novel about two sisters, conjoined twins, abandoned by their mother and raised by the nurse who brought them into the world. Aunt Lovey refuses to consider them disabled or deformed. To her they are Ruby and Rose, individuals with two brains and two hearts.
At the age of twenty-nine Rose embarks upon the writing of the story of their lives, and encourages Ruby to add her unique perspective. Through their alternating narratives the girls reveal a contradictory longing for independence and togetherness and sisterly love like no other.

Heartbreaking and very funny, you won't forget The Girls.