**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.
It's 1885, and all Nora Shipley wants, now that she's graduating from Cornell University as valedictorian of the entomology program, is to follow in her late father's footsteps by getting her master's degree and taking over the scientific journal he started. The only way to uphold her father's legacy is to win a scholarship, so she joins a research expedition in Kodaikanal, India, to prove herself in the field.
India isn't what she expects, though, and neither is the rival classmate who accompanies her, Owen Epps. As her preconceptions of India--and of Owen--fall away, she finds both far more captivating than she expected. Forced by the expedition leader to stay at camp and illustrate exotic butterflies the men of the team find without her, Nora befriends Sita, a young Indian girl who has been dedicated to a goddess against her will.
In this spellbinding new land, Nora is soon faced with impossible choices--between saving Sita and saving her career, and between what she's always thought she wanted and the man she's come to love.
Kimberly Duffy is a Long Island native currently living in Southwest Ohio, via six months in India. When she's not homeschooling her four kids, she writes historical fiction that takes her readers back in time and across oceans. She loves trips that require a passport, recipe books, and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of twenty years. He doesn't mind. You can find Kimberly at www.kimberlyduffy.com.
Wow! What an absolutely beautiful story this was! I must be honest, I enjoyed this story much more than I expected when I picked it up. Entomology really isn't a topic that I particularly find all that interesting myself, nor is it something that I would have imagined would help to create such a compelling story such as this... and yet, I found myself absolutely intrigued. This story was told with such vivid descriptions that I could not help but find the beauty in both the places (India) and the creatures (insects) unknown to me.
It offered a lovely appreciation for both of these as I read this story of Nora, a female entomologist in 1885... which as one might imagine made her quite peculiar in that time period. Having just graduated college, Nora finds herself on a trip to study insects in India... but we she arrives, she finds that as a female she is most often resigned to more mundane tasks. As she befriends a young Indian girl, it seems that perhaps God has larger plans for her time in this foreign land than just studying bugs. At times, Nora isn't always the most likable character, but in the end her heart comes through and I loved it.
There was a bit of romance too, which I always enjoy in a story as well. While this story might perhaps have a bit of a slower pace than others I prefer, there was something about it that captivated me from start to finish and I truly could not put it down. This is definitely one that fans of historical fiction are sure to enjoy!
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