Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain

Eleanor was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but oh what a strict, boring silver spoon it was for her as a child.

As she grows, she wanted her life to be: "A Firework. I wanted to live in an explosion of color and light." Page 319. As the book continues, I believe she gets her wish about her life.

Eleanor lived in Tintenbaum with her father...her mother and sister had died of augu....her father then died, and she was left under the guardianship of Mr. Merrill who was even more strict than her father. Tintenbaum was a marshland in England...Mr. Merrill always wanted to have the land drained, but Eleanor's father forbade it.

Once her father was dead, Mr. Merrill knew the only way to get the marshland to be drained was to marry Eleanor off to someone who agreed about draining the marshland. Edmund came into the picture, and Eleanor having no experience with men or any social outings, fell madly in love with him. Edmund was very cold and unaffectionate and would leave for long periods of time. Meanwhile, his friend Richard was quite passionate as well as charming, and Eleanor couldn't get him out of her mind.

The book focuses on Eleanor Glanville's life and her passion for science, butterflies, her family, and RICHARD.

An historical novel and an interesting one for women of today whose careers and interests are an important part of everyday life which wasn't so for our female ancestors. Eleanor was noted as an out-of-the ordinary/strange woman because of her love of butterflies and science and it caused her trouble because of the lifestyle of 1600's concerning the constraints and rules for the conduct of women and the narrow-mindedness of the commoners.

The book will hold your interest, and you will cheer at what Eleanor does even though she herself feels guilty about everything and claims things are her fault because of her strict upbringing.

Included for all the romantics is a pretty interesting love life for a woman of the 1600's. My thoughts about yearning for something or specifically someone is this: What you yearn for is not always the best or not what it might seem....you can read between the lines. :)

You will be glad you read all of the 527 pages. :) I really enjoyed the book.