Discover the Forgotten Voices of 1863 Melbourne in The Butterfly Women

The Butterfly Women is a story inspired by the author’s own family history. Beginning in 1863, as Melbourne transforms from a fledgling colony into a city swollen with gold, risk, and opportunity.

Melbourne was supposed to be a place to start over — or so they said.

Johanna Callaghan arrives from Ireland, hoping for honest work. Instead, she finds herself in Papillon, the red-light district of Little Lon, where survival means making hard choices in a world where lawlessness reigns. Johanna knows exactly what she’s walking into, but desperation has a way of shaping destiny.

Side note: I assumed that NINA was just a UK thing. Seeing that sentiment echo through the streets of colonial Melbourne? That was an education worth reading.

 

Untitled (Street scene, Melbourne)
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/204.1989/

The Dark Side of Gold Rush

Then we meet Harriett Gardiner — the magistrate’s sister. She’s smart, determined, and entirely underestimated. Confined to writing about fashion and gossip, Harriett dreams of journalism with purpose: murder, injustice, the raw truth. When a killing in Little Lon reaches her ears, she sees a chance to prove herself. But who will take a young woman seriously?

That doesn’t mean a girl should give up!

When Johanna and Harriett meet, their unlikely connection reveals a stark truth. In this city, you are either protected or expendable. Harriett and Johanna live on opposite ends of this divide, but both are hemmed in by the same system. The women in the book are fierce and determined, navigating a society that values respectability over dignity.

All walks of life, beaten by the rules, but will not bend.

Murder and Your Story

Throughout the novel, brief yet haunting sections titled Your Story pay tribute to the victims of murder, all of them sex workers, forgotten the moment they die. These silent obituaries are the sole memorials to women otherwise erased by history.

But no one cares if a prostitute dies. Except for the prostitutes and Harriett.

Your Story offers a brief space for you to breathe before the author, Madeleine Cleary, launches you back into the anxiety- driven, stress- inducing situations once more.

Historical Fiction

Don’t get me wrong, The Butterfly Women is not a light read, but it is an unforgettable one. It is a testament to voices lost and reclaimed, and to the power of storytelling to shine a light where history preferred shadows. If you’re drawn to historical fiction rooted in truth, rich in atmosphere, and driven by strong female characters, this is a novel you should not miss.

Oh yeah, romance? There’s some, of course. How else would we have the author?

Copyright © 2025 Ailyn Writes. All Rights Reserved.