Butterflies in the Rain cover art

Butterflies in the Rain

A Short Story

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Butterflies in the Rain

By: Anne Zouroudi
Narrated by: Liza Ross
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About this listen

Archie Schwartz is close to the end of his life, but he's not intending to go quietly, or before he's secured the future of the Montana land his family have farmed for generations.

In the midst of a storm, a stranger - Rosita - arrives to help with Archie's care, winning the old man over with her hot Latin looks. But is Rosita a perfect angel, or a devil in disguise? And will Archie live to regret placing himself in her hands?

Well known for her evocative portraits of Greece in her Greek Detective mysteries, here award-winning author Anne Zouroudi turns her pen to the wide-open spaces of the American Midwest, in a story which probes at the heart of love and death.

Anne Zouroudi's novels have been shortlisted for ITV3's Crime Thriller Awards, the Desmond Elliott Prize for Sparkling New Fiction, and the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards. In 2012 she won the East Midlands Book Award for The Whispers of Nemesis.

©2014 Anne Zouroudi (P)2014 Audible Studios Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Short Stories Greece

Critic reviews

"Absorbing and beautifully written, and reveals the savage, superstitious reality behind the pretty façade that is all that most of us know of any Greek island" (Literary Review)
"Lovely, delicious prose and plot - as tasty as one of those irresistible honey-soaked Greek confections" (Alexander McCall Smith)
"Firmly in the delicious subgenre of crime-cum-gastroporn pioneered by Andrea Camilleri ... Essentially gloriously sunny escapism, the perfect holiday read" (Daily Telegraph, Summer Reads)
All stars
Most relevant  
A blurb shouldn't spoil a story, but when unconfirmed uncertainty is all that is on offer and is mentioned specifically and unnecessarily right there...

The writing is good and well-observed, but for me it doesn't go anywhere other than to a rather easy (I'm tempted to say cheap or trite) twist that could so easily have been more effective with more grounding and a better run up.

I thought the performance was pretty great and absolutely cannot understand the disparaging comments in another review.

Ultimately, as a free short story on Audible, it is decent enough, but it feels lacking a certain something to actually elevate it, whether that could be more of a commentary on racist assumptions, family dynamics, and/ or the nightmare of health care.

Almost Something

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couldn't stand the narrator, awful sounded like porky pig . such a shame, I love Anne Zouroudi

awful

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Narrator was good with good characterisation.
The storyline was simple and well described. I 'd be happy for more.

Not Greece but still a good story

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