The Patron Saint of Butterflies

I am a 65 year old book store owner/high school English teacher, and this is one of my favorite books ever. It is a book for adolescent girls, but some how it was perfect for me. I have always wondered about the life lead inside a cult. In the novel one sees the fanatically religious cult breaking apart, but at the same time, the book is not against religion. The organization of the novel moves from the view point of one girl to the other, which moves the story quickly forward. I loved the time I spent reading. The book is a treasure.

The book is told in alternating chapters by 14-year-old best friends Agnes and Honey who have spent their entire lives in Mount Blessing, a religious commune in Connecticut. Separated from the outside world, the girls have lived under the stringent rules of Emmanuel, the commune's abusive leader, who professes to be a healer and likens himself to Jesus. Agnes is a "true believer" and aspires to be a saint. She believes every word Emmanuel tells her, frequently fasts, and even tightly ties a rope around her waist to remind her of her sinful ways. Honey, on the other hand, is a skeptic. Her mother left Honey behind at the commune when she was just an infant, and she's always felt like an outsider. She's also seen a bit of the outside world through a forbidden TV and secret visits to a neighboring farm. When Agnes' grandmother Nana Pete comes for a surprise visit, she discovers the two girls have recently been beaten in the commune's secret "Regulation Room," and decides that she must take the girls and Agnes' younger brother Benny away at once. Well, imagine taking a true believer out of the only world she has ever known. There's bound to be a bit of conflict and self-discovery, and in the end, Agnes must be braver than she's ever been to do what she believes is right. Even though I predicted the "surprise revelation" at the end of book early on, I thoroughly enjoyed The Patron Saint of Butterflies and think it would be a thought-provoking read for teenage girls who are at that age struggling with self-identify, friendships, and more. It's very difficult to pull of multiple narrators in a book, but Cecilia Galante brilliantly executed it. There was never a question as to who was speaking as each girl had a distinct voice. The characters were also well developed and very believable. Their reactions to situations in the book are fitting for their age, and I especially thought that Galante did an exceptional job at capturing Agnes' emotions as she struggles with the fact that maybe Emmanuel is not the perfect god-like human she previously thought him to be. Take this passage when Nana Pete escapes with the children and takes young Benny to the hospital after he severs his fingers in a door and Emmanuel claims to have healed him: "'I'm going to have to undo everything that Emmanuel guy did,' he [the ER doctor] says, talking directly to Nana Pete. 'And then I will try to salvage what is left and reattach those fingers the right way.' He grimaces. 'It's going to be a complicated surgery...' ... 'Wait!' I plead, rushing out into the hall. ... 'Emmanuel didn't heal him? There was no miracle?' Dr. Panetta gazes curiously at me for a long moment. His eyes are gray with little specks of blue in them. 'No,' he says gently. 'There was no miracle.' And then he is gone. The two words reverberate through my head. No miracle. No miracle. No miracle. Behind me, Honey's hand descends lightly on my shoulder. It feels l

Mount Blessing is a secluded commune near Fairfield, Connecticut, and home to about 260 people. Emmanuel, the founder of the commune, leads them in all areas of life. Most of the inhabitants hold him in the highest regard, only one tiny step below Jesus. They trust him to lead them in spiritual lives, and he does so in a strict, perfectionist way --- no television or radios, chanting prayers many hours a day, and restriction to the Mount Blessing grounds, except for the ones who have jobs to earn money for the commune. Emmanuel also handles the discipline. Fourteen-year-olds Honey and Agnes have lived their entire lives at Mount Blessing. Every child there leaves his or her parents at six months of age and moves to the nursery until the age of seven or so. Then he or she returns to live with mom and dad. Except for Honey. Her father is a complete question mark, and her mother left the commune when Honey was just three weeks old. The only item her mom left behind was a tiny ceramic cat, which Honey carries with her all the time. Honey and Agnes have been best friends since the cradle. At least up until recently. When Agnes turns 12, Emmanuel presents her with a special book, THE SAINTS' WAY. After that, Agnes strives desperately for perfection and sainthood. She even performs self-mutilation in penance for her mistakes, like starvation (she calls fasting), sleeping on rocks, and tying a string around her waist to cut into her skin. Agnes feels that Mount Blessing is a sacred place and a special home. Honey, on the other hand, desperately dreams of freedom from Mount Blessing's rigid rules. She sneaks glimpses of the outside world from the tiny black and white TV that her housemate, Winky, a physically and mentally challenged gardener, hides under his bed to secretly watch baseball games. The only happiness Honey finds is helping Winky in the butterfly gardens, her friendship with Agnes before she began straining for sainthood, and the yearly visit of Nana Pete. Nana Pete is grandmother to Agnes and her little brother Benny, but has always included Honey in everything. She comes for yearly visits, and the three kids enjoy their time with her. However, this year Nana Pete finally learns about Emmanuel's harsh discipline, and she refuses to allow the child abuse to continue. A life-threatening accident offers the opportunity to yank Agnes, Benny and Honey away from the commune. While Honey loves exploring the outside world's freedom, Agnes pleads to return to Mount Blessing. In the frantic chaos that follows their escape, the group of scarred and hurting spirits discovers a few deeply buried secrets. THE PATRON SAINT OF BUTTERFLIES is Cecilia Galante's debut novel --- and what a truly special, amazing, heart-touching work of art it is! Galante offers a glimpse into one commune's routines, a commune housing people who are so desperate to believe in something, anything, that their clouded judgment refuses to see the truth hiding beneath the fancy

I have to admit, I may be a bit biased in giving this review. However, despite that, this is easily one of the best books I've ever read. Insightful and frank to the point of being almost too extreme, I found this book hard to put down. After a car accident, I was lying in bed in my cervical collar and STILL couldn't find it in me to put this down. The girls have incredible characterization and their personalities jump out of the page. I felt everything from anger to sympathy at their actions and I was cheering for them the entire way. Also, this book is a great way to allow people living in a "normal" culture to reevaluate. Agnes and Honey have never seen McDonald's and Wal-Mart, let alone television or radios. Viewing our world through their eyes is insightful and well-written, and one can tell that this story comes from someone who's "been there". Personally, I cannot wait until I get my paycheck this week so I can buy "Hershey Herself", Cecilia Galante's second novel. I'm counting down the days. This book, however, was an incredible first novel, and is one that I know I will keep gaining insight from as I read it many more times. Happy reading!

This is a very timely book, coming out just as 437 children have been taken from a religious commune in Texas, their parents and leaders suspected of abuse. Agnes and Honey, two very different girls who are best friends, live on a very strict commune. Agnes is trying to become a saint, while Honey is trying to escape. Agnes has a family high in the commune's power structure, while Honey, an orphan, lives in a shack with the commune's handyman. Then Agnes's grandmother, while visiting, finds out what happens to the commune's kids when they are disciplined, and Agnes's little brother is badly hurt. The grandmother kidnaps both girls and the boy. It is then that all three kids get a chance to look at their commune and its adults from a distance. The characters are believably real: Agnes is annoying when she tries to be perfect, but she loves her brother and her friend. Honey is a pain because she is always contrary, but she wants to help her friend and the boy. And the book gives a great view of adults as human beings, with both good and bad sides. Seeing the kids react to things like fast food and shopping is fun, and the end kept me on the edge of my seat!