Celeste

Celeste Marconi is the main character and narrator of the novel “I Lived on Butterfly Hill.” Celeste is the daughter of Papa and Mama, the granddaughter of Abuela Frida, and something of a niece to Delfina. When the novel begins, Celeste is eleven years old. She spends her free time with her closest friends, Cristobal, Marisol, Gloria, and Lucila, and spends her weekends helping her doctor parents tend to the poor. Poverty touches Celeste deeply, and she is thrilled when a reformist, President Alarcon, is elected. Alarcon has many enemies, however, who overthrow and kill him. The General, a dictator, comes to power, and all of Alarcon’s supporters become targets of the state. This includes Celeste’s parents, who go into hiding.

Celeste’s world changes rapidly. Some of her friends, like Lucila, go missing. Others, like Gloria, turn against her for having backed Alarcon. Celeste is...