Butterflies & Demons is a sizzling mixture of historic fiction, fantasy and truth and is based on the author's compelling vision which is reflected in the title. The story bounces between two eras- the 1830s and the 1950s and is set in the uneventful, wowser town of Adelaide. But as often happens in such sleepy towns, murky truths lie suppressed beneath the seemingly staid surface. Based on carefully researched historical material, the author graphically describes the benign face of near genocide, as the supposedly enlightened new colony of South Australia silently wipes out its original inhabitants, the Kaurna. But not quite silently enough. In 1950 a migrant child from war torn Eastern Europe enters the blindingly sunny streets of Adelaide and experiences first hand the assimilationist tactics of Ango Saxon imperialism. She sees no black inhabitants anywhere, but their presence beneath the wide, manicured pavements, filters through with startling inevitability.
The snapshot stories introduced in Chapter 1, continue in alternate chapters and eventually converge, demonstrating with unflinching certainty that the past cannot be buried and that suppressed guilt will always surfac
Butterflies & Demons is also a story of hope. When the British first came to Australia, there were over 400 distinct Aboriginal languages. Now most are lost. Butterflies & Demons charts the astonishing story of how the Kaurna language was recorded and saved. The hero of Butterflies & Demons is Mullawirraburka, the last Kaurna warrior, who died in 1845. The book shows how Mullawirraburka was largely responsible for the peaceful relations between whites and blacks in the early days of the colony.
Born in Prague in 1947, Eva Chapman fled to Australia at the age of three with her mother, Olga, to escape conflict in their home country, and settled in Adelaide’s western suburbs with fellow Soviet Union refugee Sasha. Although she suffered a traumatic childhood, Eva proceeded to graduate from the University of Adelaide in 1968 and pursue multiple careers in teaching, psychotherapy, research and business, whilst also gaining a PhD in 1986 before retiring and pursuing a career in writing. Eva now resides in a wildlife sanctuary in Somerset, UK with husband of more than 40 years Jake, and is a loving mother and babushka to her children and grandchildren. Her previous works include the 2006 memoir to her parents ‘Sasha and Olga’ and the recently published ‘Sexy at 70: A Spiritual Journey.’
