Rachael King (1) (1970–)

A novel with the common theme of The White Man entering a primal jungle and finding himself succumbing to his primal instincts. This one is a bit different. The protagonist Thomas, loves butterflies. I mean he really loves butterflies "When he caught sight of his first Morphos, their blue wings shining in the sun like stained glass, he felt a familiar stirring in his trousers. This was something he couldn't explain and had long ago given up trying to. Ever since he was a young lad, his body had occasionally--only occasionally--reacted this way to the excitement of spotting and catching butterflies."… (mehr)

An entertaining read, and with clever literary allusions and a twist at the end. My only issue, and this is only an issue for a biologist like me, were the biology mistakes.
• Huia don't have iridescent feathers and red wattles; their feathers are matt black and their wattles orange.
* There are issues with the names of specimens from the vantage point of the late 19th century, Zamenis hippocrepis wasn't in the genus Zamenis in the 1890s, isn't white, and isn't found in Egypt. Dipsas dendrophila hasn't been in that genus since the 1850s. Cithaerias aurorina wasn't so named until 1910.
* Magpie Hall is named after the Australian magpies that hang around the house, but the cover and interior illustrations are of (totally unrelated and very different-looking) European magpies. The climax of the novel is a group magpie attack (a la The Birds) in April, but only nesting pairs attack, and they nest around September.
So, for those who don't suffer from biology pedantry, I'd recommend this.… (mehr)