The Butterfly Season: On Beginnings, Endings, and the Life in Between

The phenomenal Danish bestseller: a transporting, inspirational story of home, of endings, rebirth and new beginnings

In the darkness of winter on the first day of the year, a woman in Denmark is making a list. She plans to set out and see all of the country's butterfly species in a single summer. She knows nothing about butterflies. She doesn’t even know why she wants to see them. She just knows that something is calling her. The pull is irresistible.

The Butterfly Season tells the story of what happened next. We follow Lea Korsgaard as her list takes her to landscapes she never knew existed, shaped by the wind and by the sea. She discovers secret places and meets strangers who help along the way. And she is led into the past: into the lives of her ancestors and the worlds of philosophy and myth. Because ever since ancient times, the butterfly has symbolized humanity’s hope of rebirth—and confronted us with the biggest questions of existence: why do we live? And what are we living for?

© Lea Korsgaard 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026