Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian have moved to a new, working class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts toys, bikes, all that glitters most and makes them the envy of the neighbourhood. To Freya Kiley and the other local kids, the Jensons are a family from a magazine, and Rex a hero successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he's an impossible figure in a different way unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives? Sonya Hartnett's third novel for adults is an unflinching and utterly compelling work from one of Australia's finest writers. 'Hartnett does a wonderful job of depicting the sometimes brutal world of childhood that runs parallel to, and occasionally intersects with, the world of adults.' Books and Publishing Praise for Butterfly: 'Exquisitely written you end up rereading sentence after sentence and unforgettable.

' Nick Hornby 'A heart-stopping representation of adolescent girlhood, as strange and riddling and true as fiction gets.' The Age 'Lucid yet beautiful, compassionate yet unflinching, enigmatic yet touching, sometimes tragic sometimes funny . a writer at the height of her powers.' Weekend Australian 'Rich, Visceral Hartnett's tiny domestic insights unleash a tornado of human experience.' Herald Sun.