Day of the Butterfly

By Norah Lofts

Book Overview

When Daisy Holt was dismissed from her post as a nursemaid she set off cheerfully into the jungle of mid-Victorian London. When Kitty Hammond, proprietress of the select establishment off Leicester Square discovered her she was quick to realise that Daisy had a rare talent and would make a successful entertainer. And there it was that she met the impoverished artist John Skelton. To him Daisy represented the perfect model - the one to inspire his work. But Daisy fell completely and hopelessly in love with him - a love which was to launch her on a stormy career in which luxury, admiration and suffering were all to play a part...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449243591
• ISBN13: 9780449243596
• Release Date: March 1981
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Modern Classic

Historically accurate, fast paced and very enjoyable. Daisy, 15, a simple country girl is soon turned away from her new position in Victorian London. Her May Day celebration in the street and her spirited defense of her pagan abandonment are offensive to her employer as are her supreme beauty and grace. In all innocence she enters a fashonable brothal in search of "a place to sleep." It is soon apparent to Madame Kitty that she has considerable talent and is employed as an entertainer with a new name "Hebe" (Goddess of youth and spring, cupbearer to the Olympian gods). But this is a tragedy... So it is her glory (her passionate nature) which is her undoing. Of course, one must remember that a tragedy may yet end well, or at least ambiguously. I expect this book will increase in reputation over time, although today it is relatively unrecognized.

Delightful Story

This book is about Daisy, an extremely beautiful woman who finds herself out of work in London during the 1700s. By mistake she finds herself in Kitty's place, a reputable brothel. Unfortunately our heroine is not the brightest, and has no understanding of what is going on around her. She thinks that she is in a hotel! She is adventually rescued from her plight before her reputation is permanently damaged. She then bumbles from one distaster to another. This book is fun to read, and like all Norah Lofts books-relaxing. It isn't very taxing to read, but it is a great book anyhow. The only down side to the book is that the main female character, Daisy, is an idiot.