The Flitting

A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies

By: Ben Masters

Narrated by: Rory Barnett

"A book with wings."—Ali Smith

A deeply felt and moving memoir about how butterflies become a vital connection between a son and his dying father.

The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies is a masterful and touching memoir blending natural history, pop culture, and literary biography―delivering a richly layered and nuanced portrait of a son’s attempt, after years of stubborn resistance, to take on his dying father’s love of the natural world. With his father unable to leave the house and follow the butterfly cycle for the first time since he was a child, Masters endeavors to become his connection to the outdoors and his treasured butterflies, reporting back with stories of beloved species―Purple Emperors, Lulworth Skippers, Wood Whites and Silver-studded Blues―and with stories of the woods and meadows that are their habitats and once were his. Structured around a series of exchanges and remembrances, butterflies become a way of talking about masculinity, memory, generational differences, and ultimately loss and continuation. Masters takes readers on an unlikely journey where Luther Vandross and The Sopranos rub shoulders with the likes of Angela Carter and Virginia Woolf on butterflies and gender; the metamorphoses of Prince; Zadie Smith on Joni Mitchell and how sensibilities evolve; and the lives and works of Vladimir Nabokov and other literary lepidopterists.

In this beautiful debut memoir, Ben Masters offers an intensely authentic, unforgettable portrait of a father and son sharing passions, lessons, and regrets before they run out of time.

©2024 by Ben Masters. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Sure to tug on readers’ heartstrings."—Publishers Weekly

"The Flitting is a masterwork, seamlessly tying together several threads, building bridges with rich, touchable imagery and language that overflows with joy and ache, sometimes simultaneously. You will exit this book more curious, more thoughtful about the world, more capable of a wide breadth of feeling."—Hanif Abdurraquib, author of There's Always This Year

"A heartfelt and moving memoir of fathers and fritillaries, bereavement and brimstones, and the solace and wonder to be found in the natural world."—Patrick Barkham, author of The Butterfly Isles