The Gilded Butterfly Effect

An unflinching yet humorous perspective on modern campus life, from the highs of the non-stop party scene to the lows of prescription drug abuse, exploring issues of body dysmorphia and campus sexual assault. Perfect for fans of Mona Awad’s Bunny, Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, with a nod to the campus literary tradition of Elif Batuman’s Either/Or. Stella, a sorority girl, meets Penny, a loner who travels to Ann Arbor from her small liberal arts college, as they experience the start of the academic year. Stella is dealing with the aftermath of a freshman-year relationship with Trip Swindle – the self-styled leader of a “top-tier” fraternity known as The Church – which culminated in a traumatic event that haunts Stella and causes her to manipulate her psychiatrist to obtain anti-depressants, “uppers,” and appetite suppressants. As Stella tries to sort out her romantic life, the fraternity brothers, led by Trip, begin their annual “Pig Roast” contest, competing to bed and photograph those they view as the most unattractive women on campus. Stella and Penny become close friends, and eventually form an uncanny and obsessive relationship that makes them both feel as though they’re looking at alternative versions of themselves. They spiral downward simultaneously, all the while trying to maintain a façade of impossible beauty standards, non-stop partying, and campus elitism. The Gilded Butterfly Effect is the debut novel by author Heather Colley, whose short fiction has writing won The Oxford Review of Books Short Fiction Prize, the Hopwood Award, and the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize Shortlist.