Every large city has its gangs. The gangs of Singapore have something more than muscle and guns to protect their turf: they have gods. A vow and tattoos can gift new gang members extraordinary powers. At the beginning of Wen-yi Lee’s stunning new novel, When They Burned the Butterfly, protagonist Adeline Siow has no idea that her ability to spark fires has anything to do with a goddess known as the Red Butterfly. It isn’t until her mother’s shocking death that Adeline finds out what she is about to inherit.
Apart from her aptitude for fire, Adeline lives a privileged life in bustling 1970s Singapore. Her mother makes a good enough living to send her daughter to a very good school (not that Adeline appreciates it, given how snobby the other students are) and for them to share a large apartment. Everything changes on the night that Adeline returns home to find everything on fire and her mother dying from horrific burns. Adeline discovers a small butterfly tattoo on her mother’s body. This small tattoo—and an overheard conversation before her mother’s death—are Adeline’s only clues about what really caused her mother’s death.
The other thing that died along with Adeline’s mother was any hope that she might live a conventional life. Adeline plunges headlong into the savage, supernatural world of Singapore’s god-touched gangs. On the one hand, Adeline very much wants to avenge her mother. On the other, she feels more at home with the Butterflies (girls who have promised themselves to the service of the Red Butterfly) than she ever did in the mundane world. With the Butterflies, Adeline can fight back when someone wrongs her. She also found someone to love among the Butterflies, the tantalizing Ang Tian.
When They Burned the Butterfly is a highly episodic novel. Adeline’s investigation and adventures span months as she seeks out her mother’s hidden history with the Butterflies and Singapore’s gangs. The fights she has with other gangs are the stuff of legends. Lee doesn’t pull any punches for any of her characters, and more than one Butterfly falls when Adeline takes on her own and her mother’s enemies. I almost wish that this book had been a graphic novel, because a) the characters’ tattoos sound absolutely amazing and b) those fights would look incredible in full color.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.