In the Time of the Butterflies.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

If you weren't an avid admirer of the Mirabal sisters to begin with, Julia Alvarez's new novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, probably won't change your mind. In the Dominican Republic, where Alvarez was born, the Mirabals are national heroines because of their valiant stand against the Trujillo regime. In her postscript the author explains that she never actually knew the sisters, nor did she have enough information to write a real biography of them. But then, that was never her purpose. After their deaths at the hands of Trujillo, the Mirabal girls became myths, and therefore, inaccessible. Instead of writing a hagiographic account of their lives, Alvarez wanted to delve into their everyday experiences in order to discover "what gave them that special courage." Unfortunately, Alvarez goes too far in her effort to humanize the Mirabals. Smaller-than-life, her characters often get lost in the trivia of their mundane existences. It is not mtil the sisters are thrown into prison that their story becomes engrossing, but some readers may give up before they get to that point.

Growing up on their father's farm in Ojo de Agua, the Mirabal girls - Patria, Dede, Minerva, and Mate - live a sheltered life, but do manage to persuade their parents to send them away to school. Minerva soon becomes known as a troublemaker. Taught to revere Trujillo, she becomes disgusted with the dictator when he seduces one of her classmates. When her friend Sinita conofides that Trujillo had her brother murdered, Minerva realizes that the so-called "protector" is really a villain. Galvanized, she begins to read activist tracts and attend secret political meetings. Mate soon finds herself lying to protect Minerva's revolutionary activities. Mate is even forced to bury her diary, which contains incriminating evidence. In the meantime, Patria abandons her plans to become a nun and marries, while Dede returns to Ojo de Agua. Since Enrique Mirabal refuses to allow his daughter Minerva to continue her studies at the university, she returns to Ojo de Agua, where she takes up with Lio, a known agitator. Uneasy about the girl's associations, Enrique hides Lio's letters when the young man goes into exile and sends for Minerva to accompany him. The relationship between father and daughter is strained further by Minerva's discovery that Enrique has a mistress and four illegitimate daughters.

At an elaborate outdoor dance, Minerva meets Trujillo and slaps him across the face when...