"Barbara Kingsolver's novel, 'Flight Behavior,' opens with a scenario that could have been ripped from a Harlequin Romance: Dellarobia Turnbow, a restless young housewife in rural Feathertown, Tenn., is walking into the woods to meet a man who is not her husband. Things take a turn, as they always do in fiction. But this turn is not the usual one."

"High on a mountainside, Dellarobia sees a strange and gorgeous phenomenon: a valley glowing orange, trees seemingly consumed by silent flames.

At first Dellarobia thinks she has witnessed a miracle – 'a vision of glory to stop her in the road.' In fact, she learns, an enormous swarm of monarch butterflies has settled on her family's land, far from their usual wintering zones. Ovid Byron, a biologist, arrives to investigate whey they have veered off course. He believes climate change is altering the butterflies' migration path and may be steering them toward extinction."

Jennifer Weeks writes for the Daily Climate December 20, 2012. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Opinion: Enviro-Lit 101" (Daily Climate) [3]