Black Butterflies was an excellent read. I loved the character study and the writing felt propulsive. I would read more from this author again.

Zora stays behind while her husband and mother go to family in England. While she's alone, the siege of Sarajevo is beginning. Zora was an amazing FMC and her story felt real.

4.5 read. Since being shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction, I've been hoping to grab a copy of Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris. Set during the Bosnian War (1992-1995), we follow an artist, Zora, as she seeks to survive during the siege of Sarajevo. Black Butterflies is a page-turning account of the everyday trauma of just trying to survive under the harrowing circumstances of war. I longed, though, for a better connection with the characters because I felt they were all kept at a slight distance from the reader. Nevertheless, I think this book will linger with me for a while, and I look forward to seeking out Morris' future works.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. I really enjoyed it and would rate it a 3.5/5 stars.

This is heartfelt story explores a time and a place that seems to have faded from our memories. The author does a wonderful job bringing us into Sarajevo in this time period and into the very specific location where she is during the siege. I might have appreciated more detail on the history and politics of what was happening and why, but I still enjoyed reading the book overall and enjoyed the characters.

An absolutely remarkable, gorgeous, moving novel about a woman living through the Siege of Sarajevo.

Fifty-five year old Zora, a gifted artist, decides to stay in her hometown just as the 1992 Siege of Sarajevo is beginning. Her husband and aging mother join family in England. So begins Priscilla Morris’ BLACK BUTTERFLIES.

By the time they are reunited ten months later, Zora will have experienced the worst of war and human cruelty, greed, deprivation, physical suffering and loss. But she’ll also have been part of fostering community, finding solutions through human ingenuity and compassion, and the power of art.

The book’s title derives from the attack on the National Library and burning of its contents, an egregious cultural desecration. Zora whose studio is housed in the upper floor of the library loses her life’s work worth of paintings. But in the form of storytelling and make-do projects, and pooling of very limited resources, Zora and neighbors tap into the source of all art and societal bonding. They build community and help each other survive. But there’s no solace for human loss, no substitutions possible. And that’s what war brings.

While the book is fiction, it reads real, especially in a time when war and embargoes continue to starve innocent victims and deprive them of their homes and dignity. I would give this book five stars for its content but the writing is so exact, so vivid that I’d like to double my rating, if that were possible. It deserves any award it has received.

With thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Zora is trying to survive war torn Sarajevo in 1992. This is a story of overcoming all obstacles, and falling slowly into the depths of despair. This is not the most uplifting book I have ever read, at times it can be very depressing. If you are OK with sad, descriptive passages of poverty, due to war, this book may be for you. I grew close to Zora and admired her optimism, knowing that she would need to escape when possible. She just kept thinking things would turn around. About halfway through the book I learned the meaning of the title, black butterflies, which I do not want to give away. But this is an image that will stay with me for a long time. It was, in a word, heartbreaking. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage books for the arc.

This is a spell binding book of the first year of the Bosnian War in Sarajevo. It captures the reader with it's horror and compassion.

Zora is the main character and she is an artist and professor. As the war begins she sends her family to England to ensure their safety. She chooses to stay believing that things can not be as bad as people and actions are revealing.

Unfortunately they are. At one point the electricity goes and she and her friends and students are hungry without relief in sight. Having created this small community of survivors they come to form their own strong bonds. As the bullets fly and things grow worse, Morris shows us the angel and devil sides of people.

A disturbing read but one that stayed with me long after I put it down.