Following her two successful and highly acclaimed books Von seltenen Vögeln (On Rare Birds) and Das botaniche Schauspiel (The Botanical Drama), Anita Albus dedicates herself in her new work to a fascinating natural phenomenon: butterflies. Grippingly and colourfully, she writes about caterpillars, chrysalises and butterflies from all around the world, calling repeatedly on the great butterfly lovers of literary history – from Goethe and Strindberg to Nabokov. As in her previous works, Albus combines knowledge of the natural world and history with the exacting and loving eye of an artist painting with words and colours. The book contains over 60 illustrations, including a large number of spectacular paintings of butterflies by Albus herself. A book that makes us marvel and which, for all the precision of its images, does not rob butterflies of their charm and mystery.
