Black butterflies is a truly gripping turmoiled tale of hope, love and heart-wrenching grief. Based in 1992, the book is set during the first year Sarajevo (a city in then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina) was under siege and closed off from the world. The story is told through Zora, a landscape artist and university professor with a husband, adult daughter and mother who she cares for.
The story starts in the city before the siege, which I couldn’t help idealise: the beauty that it must have been, to live in a place where each culture is celebrated and respected, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Sephardi Jews. Priscilla’s description of such a place helps the reader to understand Zora’s naivety at the start of the war, with a disbelief that war was coming; however, Sarajevo quickly transforms into a war-torn city, with death and destruction, and no way out for the thousands who remain. In spite of that, this is not a typical war novel.
At the start of the story, Zora’s husband and mother travel to visit her daughter in England. What starts as blissful peace for Zora — to have a break from care and to focus on her favourite painting — turns to the realisation that she is confined to the city alone. As the weeks turn into months, the story becomes a battle of survival. Providing glimpses of her family’s story adds to her injustice, of how the rest of the world continues. Through the turmoil, Zora develops friendships with her neighbours, and you get to experience the small joys and heart-wrenching losses of the characters, how they come together and adapt to survive and show their resilience by continuing in their ‘normal’ days. It also shows no one is perfect, especially when pushed to their limits, allowing you to reflect on your viewpoint of modern day values and give empathy to her choices, when really, Zora is changed forever.
The standout point of the book for me, is how Priscilla so skillfully captures the raw essence of living in a city under siege. Seeing it through Zora’s artistic eyes brings the city to life: I can picture her apartment, her studio, the view from her kitchen window; I can picture the streets and her neighbours, the mountains that surround them. Priscilla shows how Zora transforms pain into art; her paintings and day-dreaming visions express the horror of war as the city is transformed. It is often said that creativity is highest during pain, and this is a true representation: you can imagine the devastating but beautiful pieces that Zora produces; her interpretation of the broken bridges, the fire-lit sky, her deepening loss.
Black butterflies is a valuable read for everyone, to humanise war, and start to understand the impact to individuals.
C