Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire: A Novel - Hardcover

"The two parts of the plot—the butterfly hunt and the escape from Istanbul—are covered with layers of fascinating detail and fabulous digressions. It is an aesthetically blissful reading experience. And it is a Nabokovian ploy, particularly since the plot explores the concept of bilocation—a variation on the motif of the double, so dear to Nabokov. . . . Prieto seems as comfortable writing about the Crimea as he is about Istanbul, Finland, or Milan..." The Village Voice Literary Supplement

"Literary, brooding, more than a bit obsessive . . . Butterflies is hot on the trail of a vanished empire and a lost lover. That combination, and the nostalgia that suffuses its telling, keeps you enthralled to the very end." Time Out New York

"The narrative is seamless. Well-crafted rhapsodies, in conjunction with a competent sense of pacing, keep it in a perpetual state of graceful yet gripping motion." Publishers Weekly

"Inside and out of Cuba, José Manuel Prieto is already regarded as the most exciting and original talent of his generation. His novels blend playful literary erudition and ‘street’ worldliness in a new and dazzling way. Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire offers the most hilariously wounded and obsessive narrator since Pale Fire’s Charles Kinbote, along with an unforgettable depiction of cultural and historical dislocation, disintegration, and nostalgia." Francisco Goldman