Vlinder has a decision to make. Does she surrender her baby to a complete stranger to save its life or face the prospect of the two of them being transported to a Nazi death camp?
In the darkest days of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, Vlinder faces an unimaginable choice: surrender her newborn baby to a complete stranger or risk both their lives in a brutal prison camp. What she chooses will ripple through the generations, establishing a legacy of secrets, lies, unspoken grief and lost identities.
Decades after the war, Vlinder’s granddaughter Evangeline’s quest to understand her grandmother’s actions and her family’s painful past reveals that there might be more to this legacy: a story of love and sacrifice, and a truth that has lain buried for over seventy years.
Spanning from the horrors of Auschwitz to the quiet suburbs of Melbourne and the magnificent Scottish Highlands, The Butterfly’s Daughter is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a confirmation that the echoes of history shape who we are.
Asking what it means to truly survive, this family saga will push the limits of hope and fear as it ponders the lengths we are willing to go to for those we cherish.
Historical, Holocaust, Family Saga, Historical Fiction, Impossible Decisions, Inherited Pasts, Secret Pasts, Intergenerational Trauma, Family Secrets, Legacy
About The Author
David lives by the mantra that you don’t stop learning when you get old; you get old when you stop learning. He originally graduated with honours in Chemical Engineering, for which he received the Shell Prize for Engineering, before studying a Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology, again winning the Shell Prize this time for Psychology.
Harnessing his tiered education, David started a highly successful corporate consultancy focussed on facilitating strategic planning and organisational change, enhancing leadership capabilities and fostering team effectiveness. Among his long-term clients were Shell, Toyota, Mitsubishi and the Department of Defence.
In his retirement, David returned once again to university and graduated at 75 with a PhD in Creative Writing. In 2026, he is releasing two novels, The Butterfly’s Daughter and The Medal, in which he explores the depth of the human condition and the simultaneous strength and frailty of human relationships.
David is married to a highly awarded non-Executive Director, has three awesome children and four wonderful grandchildren.
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