Praise Song for the Butterflies

by Bernice L. McFadden

Overview

A young woman must learn to love and trust again after experiencing the brutality of ritual servitude in West Africa.

—Longlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction

—A Black Caucus of the American Library Association 2019 Honor title, Fiction

“McFadden, writer of great, imaginative novels for years now (including Sugar and Gathering of Waters), is back with one of her best yet. Exploring ritual sacrifice in contemporary West Africa, Praise Song offers a fascinating, painful glimpse into a world beyond America’s shores, filled with tragedy and love and hope.” —Entertainment Weekly, One of 20 New Books to Read in August

“The novel has a timeless quality; McFadden is a master of taking you to another time and place. In doing so, she raises questions surrounding the nature of memory, what we allow to thrive, and what we determine to execute . . . McFadden brings the sweeping drama of her earlier works — The Book of Harlan, Glorious, Gathering of Waters — into this small book, and reminds me of the gentle fierceness of Edwidge Danticat’s writing.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

Abeo Kata lives a comfortable, happy life in West Africa as the privileged nine-year-old daughter of a government employee and stay-at-home mother. But when the Katas’ idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse, Abeo’s father, following his mother’s advice, places the girl in a religious shrine, hoping that the sacrifice of his daughter will serve as atonement for the crimes of his ancestors. Unspeakable acts befall Abeo for the fifteen years she is held in the shrine. When she is finally rescued, broken and battered, she must struggle to overcome her past, endure the revelation of family secrets, and learn to trust and love again.

In the tradition of Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, this novel is a contemporary story that offers an eye-opening account of the practice of ritual servitude in West Africa. Spanning decades and two continents, Praise Song for the Butterflies will break you heart and then heal it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617756269
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	951,217
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), Glorious, and The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction). She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of four awards from the BCALA. Praise Song for the Butterflies is her latest novel.

Editorial Reviews

07/30/2018
McFadden’s latest (after The Book of Harlan) is the harrowing saga of young Abeo Kata, whose pleasant childhood during the late 1970s in the fictional West African town of Port Masi, Ukemby, takes an abrupt, dark turn. Abeo is indulged by her parents and an aunt visiting from New York, but her life changes trajectory after her rural grandmother moves in and forces outdated customs on the family. Shortly thereafter, Wasik, Abeo’s father, has a spate of financial woes and his mother insists that abandoning Abeo at a shrine is the only way to alleviate his troubles. Wasik is horrified by the prospect but reluctantly follows his mother’s advice, driving several hours in the night to deliver the terrified nine-year-old into ritual servitude. Abeo plunges into grueling work in the fields alongside other children of varying ages. Abeo’s mother attempts to locate her daughter, but learns there are countless shrines tucked away in remote villages. During the years that Abeo is enslaved, she relies on memories for comfort before she is finally freed. After her release, Abeo completes a rehabilitation program before beginning to mend her tattered past. Abeo’s journey is challenging and stirring, punctuated by an excellent supporting cast of characters and McFadden’s lyrical prose. This moving novel should appeal to a wide audience. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Bernice McFadden’s Praise Song for the Butterflies is a story about trauma and survival . . . Let me assure you: McFadden’s writing is so gentle and internal; reading it doesn’t feel like an exercise in masochism. Instead, it’s a nuanced examination of heritage, family, secrets, and resilience."

Buzzfeed Books Newsletter

"This is a novel brave enough to cast an unblinking eye on one of the most disturbing chapters in the ongoing history of female oppression, and humane enough to have found the means for a redemptive and fulfilling read."

New York Journal of Books

"Perhaps one of the best books of the year, Praise Song for the Butterflies is a stunning, brief portrait that humanizes the plight of those in ritual servitude. It’s a fantastic work from a gifted author."

The Gazette

"Bernice McFadden's Praise Song for the Butterflies is a story about trauma and survival...Let me assure you: McFadden's writing is so gentle and internal; reading it doesn't feel like an exercise in masochism. Instead, it's a nuanced examination of heritage, family, secrets, and resilience. Get your copy now."
—BuzzFeed

"Praise Song for the Butterflies is a heavy and stirring book about the violence inflicted on girls—and the revenge that some of them are able to enact."
—Bitch

"Bernice L. McFadden's tenth novel follows a West African woman's recovery after she escapes the temple where she was forced into 15 years of ritual servitude."
—BUST

"Abeo Kata's comfortable life as a West African child is violently cut short when, at nine years old, she is sacrificed to a shrine as atonement for her father's sins. After 15 years, she is finally rescued—battered, bruised and faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of rejoining a world (and a family) that left her behind."
—Bustle

"Since Bernice L. McFadden published her debut novel, Sugar, in 2001, she has taken up the mantle of not only singing a Black woman's song, but also digging up our histories and putting them on the pages of 12 books."
—Bitch Magazine

"I was blown away by this book...McFadden doesn't waste words, sometimes moving us years between paragraphs. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard of the African women known as trokosi, or shrine slaves, but I'm thankful McFadden has brought their stories to the light."
—BookRiot

One of Book Marks Best Reviewed Books of the Week, August 31, 2018

Included in BookTrib's 8 Books Featuring Memorable African American Characters

Included in Entropy Magazine's August/September Small Press Releases roundup

"An inspiring and provocative fictional treatment of a very real problem."
—The New Orleans Advocate

"On the heels of her American Book Award- and NAACP Image Award-winning novel The Book of Harlan, McFadden's 10th novel, Praise Song for the Butterflies, gives us the story of Abeo, a privileged 9-year-old girl in West Africa who is sacrificed by her family into a brutal life of ritual servitude to atone for the father's sins. Fifteen years later, Abeo is freed and must learn how to heal and live again. A difficult story that, according to Kirkus, McFadden takes on with 'riveting prose' that 'keeps the reader turning pages.'"
—The Millions

"McFadden's stories have consistently taken readers into the heart of not just the land but the people, reflecting base instincts and our truest selves."
—Electric Lit

"A tale set in [West Africa], where a girl is given up by her family, endures a very hard life, and, once set free, must find a way to heal and live forward."
—Philadelphia Inquirer

"McFadden scores big."
—Jamaica Gleaner

"Ritual servitude, trokosi, takes hold of McFadden's created innocent, and that forces the reader into a story that will yield understanding, empathy, and revulsion...McFadden's innocent girl child's journey through trokosi, insanity, rehabilitation, and forgiveness to reach a point of self-awareness and strength—is a literary treasure. Praise Song for the Butterflies is a well-crafted story about an injustice that can be changed."
—AALBC

"This is a novel brave enough to cast an unblinking eye on one of the most disturbing chapters in the ongoing history of female oppression, and humane enough to have found the means for a redemptive and fulfilling read."
—New York Journal of Books

"If you're looking to spend a day enthralled in a dramatic tale of abandonment, what mercy means, and to just contemplate healing, then I would recommend you read Praise Song for the Butterflies."
—The Storyscape

"This is a story about love, abuse, sacrifice, and pain, and the path to healing...5 Stars."
—Reader Then Blogger

"Praise Song For The Butterflies is a contemporary, eye-opening and heart-breaking account of ritual servitude in West Africa."
—The Curious Reader

"[Readers are] honored to see a young woman, one who has survived unspeakable pain, become a woman of grace and courage."
—The Cyberlibrarian

"A beautiful, poignant tale of family, trust, love, and secrets."
—All for the Books

"I read so that I can be transported and Praise Song for the Butterflies does just that. Bernice McFadden can inhabit any culture, any character, any experience, and Praise Song for the Butterflies is no exception. For those hours I was with Abeo, a daughter sacrificed to a religious sect, the burdens of her heart were mine."
—The Millions

"Bernice L. McFadden is a writer who needs more credit. In her latest novel, she discusses the trokosi, who are slave girls in Africa handed over to a 'priest' in order to clear their families of bad luck. We follow Abeo Kata and see how she deals with her unfortunate fate. Even while writing about a seemingly hopeless situation, McFadden restores our faith by showing how there is life after hardship and forgiveness."
—Politics & Prose, staff pick

"Bernice McFadden turns her keen eye to the subject of ritualistic slavery in West Africa...McFadden weaves past and present times to build Abeo's story, including the stories of her ancestors, which are crucial to understanding her father's actions. McFadden's writing is strongest in these moments, building a complicated and nuanced web of tales that reveal religious customs and cultural beliefs of a time and place that is both modern and yet rooted in the traditions of its past...In the moments of brilliance, it is Abeo who emerges most fully on the pages: a fierce, vibrant and complicated woman whose survival shapes not only her life, but the lives of those around her. At once a heartbreaking tale of violence and oppression and an uplifting story of hope and redemption, Praise Song for the Butterflies sheds light on the lasting legacy of ritual servitude in West Africa in way that is not easy to forget."
—Shelf Awareness for Readers

"Heartbreaking yet ultimately redeeming, this strong survivor's tale is told with unadorned prose and a well-paced plot. Abeo's story is compelling, but seeing how the adults in Abeo's life rationalize their betrayal is even more horrifically fascinating. Recommended, especially as an introduction to a lesser-known cultural practice that has become widely criminalized."
—Library Journal

"An engrossing novel that truly is a praise song for survivors everywhere."
—Kirkus Reviews

"This harrowing yet compelling tale is not for the faint of heart but does promise redemption in the most trying of circumstances."
—Booklist

"Abeo's journey is challenging and stirring, punctuated by an excellent supporting cast of characters and McFadden's lyrical prose. This moving novel should appeal to a wide audience."
—Publishers Weekly

"Ms. McFadden, may I please have my heart back? Because you snatched it...There is no question that I would recommend reading this one. Just be prepared for the heartache."
—Monlatable Book Reviews

"Praise Song for the Butterflies was a complete surprise. For a coming of age story it is quite original and due to its many themes, it is the type of book that is open to discussion."
—The Bob Sphere

"[McFadden's] writing style is immaculate. There is no embellishment, there is very little metaphor, there is only strict storytelling...An extremely successful way to handle this content."
—Matthew Sciarappa

"Gripping, telling and beautifully written"
—Jamie Klinger, iNews (UK)

"Abeo is unrelenting—a fiery protagonist who sparks in every scene. Bernice L. McFadden has created yet another compelling story, this time about hope and freedom."
—Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun

Critical praise for the previous works of Bernice L. McFadden:

"McFadden works a kind of miracle—not only do her characters retain their appealing humanity; their story eclipses the bonds of history to offer continuous surprises...Beautiful and evocative."
—Jesmyn Ward, New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice), on Gathering of Waters

"Simply miraculous."
—Washington Post on The Book of Harlan

From the Publisher

"A fictional West African country is the setting for Bernice L. McFadden’s latest work, Praise Song for the Butterflies. Here we meet Abeo Kata, a 9-year-old girl who is ripped from her privileged lifestyle when her father forces her to become a slave in a religious sect. Rescued after 15 years, Abeo struggles to overcome dark family secrets while learning to love again."

one of Essence‘s Five Faves for Fall Essence Magazine

"McFadden crafts a compassionate, unforgettable story of loss and redemption."

One of 10 Books to Read in August BBC Culture

2018-05-28
A child's shocking experience of ritual servitude.Young Abeo lives in an affluent, urban neighborhood in the fictional African nation of Ukemby. With a spacious home, loving parents, and a baby brother she adores, Abeo is leading a happy and secure childhood. She even has an enchanting Aunt Serafine, who visits from the U.S. and introduces her to worldly delights like Big Mac sandwiches. Before her tearful farewell to Serafine, Abeo takes a ring from her aunt's collection of bangles and beads, hoping that together with her earnest prayers, the ring will draw Serafine back to Ukemby. It is a childish plan, but Abeo is soon convinced that her secret misdeed is the cause of the horrific shift in her life. The reader knows better, as do the adults around her who instigate, ignore, or are impotent to help when a trusted adult delivers Abeo to a fetish priest at a distant village shrine to become a trokosi, a female slave. It's an astonishing and desperate act, meant to appease the gods, following old traditions, after Abeo's father is accused of wrongdoing. But there is nothing holy at the shrine. The obscenities inflicted upon Abeo and the other young girls held captive are profound and inhumane. Back-breaking work, a near-starvation diet, beatings, and rapes—it's hard to keep reading as Abeo experiences loss after loss, but it would be a mistake to put the book down. Though Abeo's childhood, body, and, finally, her spirit are destroyed, McFadden's often riveting prose keeps the reader turning pages. Several plot twists, such as the revelation of Abeo's parentage, seem wedged in, but in the end, the promise of seeing Abeo survive the tragic theft of her childhood makes up for the lack of a more nuanced plot.An engrossing novel that truly is a praise song for survivors everywhere.

Kirkus Reviews