Books from Dominican Republic
In the Time of the Butterflies
On November 25, 1960, three sisters were found dead near a wrecked Jeep at the base of a cliff on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. The state press called it an accident. The sisters, known as Las Mariposas (the Butterflies), had been active opponents of the dictatorship of General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who held power over the country for three decades. A fourth sister survived. Julia Alvarez's novel reconstructs the lives of all four Mirabal sisters: Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and Dedé, the one who lived.
Each sister narrates portions of the story, covering different periods from childhood through the years of political resistance. The novel moves between domestic detail and political danger, tracing how the sisters came separately to oppose the regime. Their accounts include school life, family obligations, religious faith, clandestine organizing, and imprisonment. Alvarez, who was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in the United States, draws on historical events while giving each sister a distinct perspective and voice.
The book is set across several provinces of the Dominican Republic, from the rural Cibao valley where the Mirabal family lived to the capital, Santo Domingo. Its time frame spans roughly the 1940s through 1960, a period when Trujillo's control shaped nearly every aspect of daily life on the island.
Plot
It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas--the Butterflies.
