Death and the Butterfly

“Hester writes with a grace that uplifts … This gift to readers shows how beauty and death can coexist.“—Publishers Weekly

“Provocative … sensational … A story of passion and intermittent poetry.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Hester takes us to a wide variety of settings, from London in the blitz to Toronto, Vancouver, California, and the northern plains of the United States. Each location is described in depth, each finely observed detail outlined with the clarity of the poet.” —Valerie Adolph, Historical Novel Society

“Death and the Butterfly is a marvel, a magic trick, both a ballet on the tightwire of human strength and frailty and a fall into the darkest and deepest well. Colin Hester’s achingly poignant sentences—this is an artist at the top of his power—balanced me breathlessly and held my hand as I fell. What his characters find in these most dark and private places—what we find—is one another. This is a story about Nazi bombs and grief–dumb road trips, of dying lovers and children. About senselessness, and sense. A story of how, paradoxically, our own most private grief is what connects us to everyone. It’s a novel about poetry, too, and how common beauty and loss just might help us love, and love the world, again.” —David Allan Cates, author of Tom Connor’s Gift

Praise for Diamond Sutra

“A wonderful read … A true house of cards in which you fall, like Alice, through scene after scene. It’s a fall from grace through horror into a grace more simple. And after the house of cards tumbles we are left alone, awake and alive.” —William Kittredge, author of The Willow Field

“Like a dream that leaves you trembling for hours, Diamond Sutra is by turns frightening, sexy, edgy, fantastic, and at its center deeply courageous and true. Colin Hester tells a story like a magician and writes like he’s lit from within.” —Pam Houston, author of Deep Creek

“Heartfelt and evocative.” —Newsday

“A knowing ride through the rough country of a young man’s broken heart.” —i>Publishers Weekly

“Original, quirky, impressive … [an] audacious debut.” —Kirkus Reviews

Colin Hester is a British-born former student of Zen and former thirty-year-old paperboy. The author of Diamond Sutra, Hester has taught writing at Central Washington University, the University of Montana, and the University of Colorado. He lives just north of Seattle with his British-born wife and his U.S.-born cat.

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