BOOKS: Author visiting Louisburgh to read from novel addressing coercive control

White Butterfly, the debut novel by Kilkenny writer Saoirse Prendergast will be reading from her powerful debut novel ‘White Butterfly’ in Books at One, Louisburgh, this Saturday, February 8, at 7.30pm.
Prendergast’s heart-wrenching book tells the story of an innocent, vulnerable young girl who believes she failed to prevent a beloved parent’s death. It vividly captures the insidious nature of coercive control and its creeping strangulation of a person.
Set on an island off the east coast of Canada, ‘White Butterfly’ describes Sakura’s grief at losing her father at a young age. Her idyllic life on Acres Island is shattered. In one terrible moment, all her heroes, confidantes, and inspirations are taken away, with her mother, brother and Jack all becoming distant to her.
No one can reach Sakura, until she finds her love of horses and, through this, meets someone who will change her life forever. Hope offered with a fellow islander. But, nothing is as it seems.
“Saying it out loud for the first time feels weird. Breakup doesn’t give justice to what is happening. She was abused. She is abused. Those words finally put sense on what’s happened. Those words simultaneously fit and feel fraudulent.”
Eventually, Sakura discovers her truth and begins to create a new life, ‘where butterflies live free’.

‘Insightful and authentic’
Reviewing the novel, John MacKenna, author, broadcaster, playwright and poet says: “Saoirse Prendergast has walked that fine line between darkness and light. She has created a book that is written with a lightness of touch while, at the same time, dealing with coercive control, a darkness that has long been a weapon used by some men in their relationships with women. The author brings us ordinary, credible people who find themselves in very dark circumstances; people whose lives and losses are unforgettable.”
In 2019, coercive control became a criminal offence in Ireland. But, as Lisa Morris, Manager of Amber Women’s Refuge in Kilkenny, explains: ‘coercive control is extremely hard to explain, and hard for those around us to understand’, adding that Prendergast does ‘an excellent job of showing the complexities of it, and how it manifests itself’.
An advocate for women’s rights, Saoirse Prendergast’s writing challenges the misogyny that often exists in the judicial and legal system, and in society in general, towards women who experience domestic abuse; and she strives for greater education and awareness.
Louise Crowley, Professor of Family Law in University College Cork, describes the book as ‘an incredible, insightful portrayal of the solitary and self-loathing world of a victim of coercive control, and the power of evil to destroy lives. A brilliant and much needed insight into the reverting crime of coercive control’.
Lawyer Paul McCarthy SC also describes the book as ‘incredible, insightful and authentic’ and adds ‘this novel has a real feel for the creeping psychological trauma being heaped upon Sakura. Her continued self-questioning is so well captured’.
Saoirse Prendergast’s love of writing began when she completed a writing course in Kilkenny, through Maynooth University. A University College Dublin graduate with an MPhil, she also has a BA in Theology and Philosophy, and a Certificate in Counselling Skills from the National University of Ireland in Maynooth.
The author spent a lot of time on Canada’s East Coast, with family, which influenced her decision to set her first novel there. She now lives with her family in Co Kilkenny.

• For more information the Sarah Prendergast’s reading this Saturday in Louisburgh, contact Books at One on 098 66885.