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Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

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From the 2020 Richell Prize winner comes a stunning new feminist novel about family, friendship, sexual secrets and connection.

It's a 25-minute drive to South Yarra from here... She takes out her phone and types a quick message: I'm on my way. As she pulls away from the kerb, the adrenaline has already spiked. A needlepoint, straight to the vein.

Indigo Murphy and Atlas Summers are as different as night and day. One a photographer, the other a journalist. Years and yearnings separate them.

Indigo hides behind a lens. But she knows what she desires - pain and pleasure. Reward and discipline. Give and take. The safety of submission.

Atlas has made a life out of asking questions. A father of two boys, he wrestles with the noise and the silence in his home, and his fear of not knowing the answers.

As Indigo and Atlas come together to research the way manmade light has tainted the natural world, a connection builds. They share their lives and their fears. Like a constellation in a dark sky, their work will impact them far more than they realise. And their friendship will guide them both to a more honest place.

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies is a luminous and exquisitely crafted novel about family, desire and connection in the modern world.

More books by Aisling Smith

Aisling Smith

Aisling Smith is a Naarm/Melbourne-based writer. She was the winner of the 2020 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Her debut novel, After the Rain, was published in 2023 and was longlisted for the ALS Gold Medal. Her writing has appeared in New Australian Fiction 2024, Meanjin online, SWAMP, Verge and Verandah. She holds a PhD in Literary Studies.

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