The author spends a spring and summer trying to see all the butterflies that occur in Denmark. She doesn’t seem to know quite why she wants to do this but she does. And she starts from a position of a great deal of ignorance about the 60+ species on her must-see list.
The butterflies of Denmark overlap considerably with our own but there are quite a few unfamiliar species for the British reader – enough to make the butterfly hunt a bit different. I like this type of book – the thrill of the chase – provided there is enough other content to make one feel interested in the author and there is in this book. For one thing, she is a mother with interesting children, elderly parents and a supportive husband. She travels by bicycle, in a camper van and sometimes stays in huts in the woods. It seems very Danish to me.
Does she find all the butterflies? Read the book to find out. Does she learn lots about them? Yes, and shares some of it with us. Does she learn about herself? There is some of that but nothing too heavy.
I enjoyed the butterfly hunt and the cast of characters. This book was a best seller in Denmark and I’m sure that is not because all Danes are keen on butterflies but because it is well-written (the author is a journalist), engaging (the author is a sympathetic character) and maybe because it is puzzling to normal people why anyone would want to chase around looking for butterflies.
There are many books where slightly obsessive men try to see as many of a particular taxon in a period of time as possible but the difference here is that the author is female and not obsessive to start with. This book is closer in style and approach to my Book of the Year for 2024, The Flitting by Ben Masters – review here. Both are about butterflies but about more than just butterflies. Both are by people who are cultured and who don’t start off as being mad keen on butterflies. I prefer The Flitting but I enjoyed this book a great deal too, and this book has far less Virginia Woolf in it, which I regard as a small plus.
The cover? The butterfly seems rather short-changed to me. I’d give it 6/10.
The Butterfly Season: on beginnings, endings and the life in between by Lea Korsgaard is published by Particular Books.
You could buy this book from Bookshop.org and I have set up a booklist to make that easy through this link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/MarkAvery Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase
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It sounds like a Danish version of “The butterfly isles ” by Barkham ?
I’m still hoping that you’ll review the “A vanishing Kind” about John Wamsley