Even though I was frightened of the subject matter of In the Time of the Butterflies--based on true and bloody events in the infamous regime of Trujillo in the mid-20th century--I was pulled into it by the narrator, the only sister of four who was spared, speaking in the present as she answers questions from a journalist who, like so many others, reveres and idolizes the sacrifices the four "Butterflies" and their family made to achieve democracy in the Dominican Republic. And when the narrator changes from sister to sister beginning when they are little girls, I'm right there with each of them as they grow. They are so endearing and singular, yet become much more. This is a powerful, yet light-hearted book like the girls themselves. Poetic and feminist, deeply moving.