Delia, an independent-minded Montreal woman of sixty and sexually experienced, leaves her married lover to go on a cruise along the Volga and enters into a forbidden but lustful and satisfying liaison with Kostya, a young member of the ships crew. Kostya, looking out for the best opportunity to leave his country, is in it for more than erotic pleasures, something Delia understands and acts accordingly. Inappropriate dalliance, however, on board and ports of call in a Russia at war with Chechnya is not the sole narrative engine of this acutely written novel. Memory and identity, the inexorable passing of time, and the desire to be more in imagination than in actuality, are driving motivators in the lives of such characters as the brilliantly conceived, and possibly lunatic Frank, an elderly gentleman who believes himself to be the son of the murdered tsarevitch Alexis and has designs on Delia. Kostyas colourful mother and the mysterious, threatening man who seems to follow Delia also have their own plans.Butterfly in Amber is a novel about choices, sex, living life on unfamiliar terrain, and the courage to act according to ones desires, the consequences be damned, although discretion is always advisable, if not always followed.
Kenneth Radu has published books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, including The Cost of Living, shortlisted for the Governor Generals Award. His collection of stories A Private Performance and his novel Distant Relations both received the Quebec Writers Federation Award for best English language fiction. His last novel is The Purest of Human Pleasures (Penguin). He is also the author of Sex in Russia: New & Selected Stories and Butterfly in Amber (DC Books Canada). Born in Windsor, Ontario, he taught for many years at John Abbott College near Montreal and now writes full time.
- strong female protagonist- finding the courage to follow one's desires and not just settle for what is easy or appropriate- author is 2-time winner of the Quebec Writer's Federation Award for writing in the English language- Kenneth Radu's previous short story collection, The Cost of Living, was a finalist for the Governor General's AwardSales handleA new novel from the critically acclaimed author Kenneth Radu