Set during the tumultuous time during General Rafael Trujillo’s reign in the Dominican Republic, In the Time of the Butterflies is based on the lives of the four Mirabal sisters: Minerva, bold and courageous; Patria, kind and devout; Maria Teresa, a true romantic; and Dede, the practical one. They become known as “Las Mariposas,” or The Butterflies. Three of the sisters join the revolution against Trujillo, while the other is left to tell their tragic tale. Beginning when the sisters are young and are unaware of Trujillo’s affect on society, Alvarez describes each sister’s journey to their political awakening and how they become revolutionaries. The beginning is slow and can be hard to get into, but Alvarez recaptures the reader’s attention