6 h 21 minAudiobook11 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 21 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the search for a fairy princess enters a world ruled by money and manners?
In The Silver Butterfly, Mrs. Wilson Woodrow brings romance and mystery into the glitter of the Gilded Age. New fortunes, grand houses and social ambition form the setting for a search for a woman who seems almost too charming to be real. Hidden money and secrets give longing a puzzle to follow.
The promise of a fairy princess meets the practical world of business and society. Here, love is not the only question worth pursuing: wealth and belonging also shape the world around it. Woodrow offers clear plotting, lively scenes and a warm tone, keeping the story light and quick-moving rather than weighed down by heavy argument.
What you’ll discover
- Money and manners Enter a world where rising fortunes meet society’s careful rules about who belongs.
- Romance with a puzzle Follow a love story whose mystery gives feeling a reason to keep moving.
- An elusive fairy princess Explore the longing for someone lovely, seemingly unreal and just beyond reach.
- Secrets and hidden fortunes Let the promise of concealed wealth draw you deeper into the romantic mystery.
- A warm, lively escape Enjoy clear plotting and lively scenes in a story that favors pleasure over heavy argument.
Who will love it
Readers who like witty drawing-room talk, a courtship wrapped in mystery, and a hero chasing a fortune and a woman together. It suits anyone who enjoys Gilded Age New York, jewels, gossip and fortune-tellers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A traveler hopes for a fairy princess
- A silver butterfly is lost and found
- A gossip names her and hears of a lost mine
- The butterflies, the fortune-teller and a voice
- Tea with Marcia, and Ydo unmasked
- A declaration and a hint of the mine
- A butterfly dinner and a gathering storm
- Photographs vanish and suspicion grows
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Robert HaydenA cheerful, impulsive engineer home from years abroad, who hopes for a fairy princess and a fortune in a lost mine.
- Marcia OldhamA gentle, reserved beauty in butterfly jewels whose way of life stirs gossip, and who keeps a secret she cannot yet tell.
- Ydo CarrothersA bold Gypsy-blooded fortune-teller known as the Veiled Mariposa, who loves the open road and plays her own game.
- Kitty HamptonHayden's lively cousin, who loves to manage other people's affairs and is fiercely loyal to Marcia.
- Horace PenfieldA thin, sharp-nosed gossip who lives on other people's secrets and likes to stir things up.
- Wilfred AmesA big, fair, steady man whose attentions to Marcia are the talk of the town, and who is stirred by Ydo.
- Mrs. AmesWilfred's fierce old mother, who wears dusty diamonds, speaks her mind and longs for a freedom she never had.
- Mrs. OldhamMarcia's vain mother, who quotes her dead husband constantly and cares much about her looks and her comfort.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 21 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 11 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear La Farfalla d'argento in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La Farfalla d'argento
by Mrs. Wilson Woodrow · 1908
A traveler home from the wilds spots a woman in butterfly jewels at the opera and cannot rest until he knows who she is.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Silver Butterfly is a romance of New York society, written by Mrs. Wilson Woodrow in the early years of the twentieth century.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A traveler hopes for a fairy princess
Robert Hayden returns to New York after years of building railroads in South America, Africa and China. He feels like a schoolboy on holiday and expects some wonderful surprise. Walking down the Avenue with his cousin Kitty Hampton, he jokes that he would not be shocked to meet a fairy princess.
He adds that he has a hope of a fortune, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. He will not say more. Kitty, who loves to arrange other people's lives, says she already has a princess in mind. Her name is Marcia Oldham, a gifted painter who has lived most of her life in Europe.
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What is The Silver Butterfly about?
It follows Robert Hayden, an engineer home in New York, who falls for Marcia Oldham, a beauty who wears butterfly jewels. At the same time he searches for the owners of a lost South American mine called the Veiled Mariposa.
What does Mariposa mean in The Silver Butterfly?
Mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly. It names the lost mine, the masked fortune-teller Mademoiselle Mariposa, and it links to the silver butterfly jewels that Marcia and her friends wear.
Who is Ydo Carrothers?
Ydo Carrothers is the daring, Gypsy-blooded woman who tells fortunes in a mask as the Veiled Mariposa. She speaks with a Spanish accent, loves the open road, and plays a larger part in the mine story than Hayden first guesses.
The author
Mrs. Wilson Woodrow
1867–1935 · American novelist
Mrs. Wilson Woodrow was an American author who lived from 1867 to 1935. She wrote fiction under her married name. Her novel The Silver Butterfly was published in 1908. She lived in the United States and wrote during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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