The Butterfly Plague

The Butterfly Plague is a novel by Canadian author Timothy Findley, published in 1969.[1] Set in the period just before World War II, the novel centres on Ruth Damarosch, an Olympic swimming champion who returns to her home in Los Angeles after several years living in Germany with her now ex-husband and swimming coach Bruno, amid the context of a swarm of monarch butterflies afflicting the city.[2]

Supporting characters include Ruth's brother Adolphus, a gay and hemophiliac film director; their father George, a failed Hollywood film mogul; Naomi, their faded movie star mother; actresses Myra Jacobs and Letitia Virden; and Octavius, a drag queen.[2]

The novel was published by Viking Press in 1969.[3] Out of print for many years, it was reissued in paperback by Penguin Canada in 1986.[4]

References

  1. ^ "The Butterfly Plague, by Timothy Findley". Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1969.
  2. ^ a b Laurel Boone, "Findley In Fredericton: Ex-Actor 'Becomes' Someone Else Every Day". Telegraph-Journal, October 18, 1986.
  3. ^ Bobby Mather, "Thorp: Onward and Downward from 'Detective' to 'Dionysus'". Detroit Free Press, April 20, 1969.
  4. ^ Douglas Hill, "Some serious reading for those sultry summer evenings". The Globe and Mail, July 12, 1986.


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