Where Butterflies Wander

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death and mental illness.

Davina, whose name means “beloved,” is the central character of the story and one of two protagonists who engage in a battle of will for the ownership of Davina’s cabin. Her role in the novel is as a model of wisdom and compassion, as she is further along in the experience of processing grief than the Egide family.

Davina and her biological mother escaped her father when she was young and moved to the woods, where Davina’s second mother, Rosalinda, later found them. For all of Davina’s life, The Nature of Fate and Chance has played a role in what she has experienced and who she became. Rosalinda notes the strange timing of their meeting: “I’m certain it wasn’t random chance at all, but providence, God’s hand on destiny. How else do you explain what followed, the intertwining of our fates?” (2). Rosalinda taught Davina about natural healing, and Davina was left the cabin by Marie’s grandfather, who she refers to as “the colonel.” The colonel took Davina in after a tour in Afghanistan as a nurse. She was horribly injured when the truck she was in exploded, and her husband abandoned her along with their daughter, Rose.