The Official Site of Robert Barclay, Author

Novelist Robert Barclay

The Butterfly Dynasty books

Stories Matter

THE BUTTERFLY DYNASTY

The multi-award nominated literature series, ‘The Butterfly Dynasty’, is about extraordinary women’s lives and loves set against the backdrops of the momentous social issues of our times. 

CASSIE'S SONG

Butterfly Dynasty cover for Cassie's Song

A searing story of love, glamour and sacrifice (New Release)

The Butterfly Dynasty books

From the bucolic Hampshire villages of Jane Austen to the steamy rainforests of Borneo, Katy and Clara Yehonala join a new heroine to confront the devastating price the world pays for beauty.

Cassie’s Song dances across the glamorous fashion capitals of the world and treads the horrific, secret world of corporations in the prehistoric rainforests of Kalimantan, revealing the grim world of human rights abuses and rainforest bastardry.

The climax will leave two mothers uplifted by their magnificent daughters and facing loss that must be endured like the rivers tell time, not the clocks.

There are monsters as well as angels in this life.

THE GIRL IN THE ORPHANAGE

Girl reading a book - the Girl in the Orphanage

Nominee: The 2023 Indie Book Literary Award

The news shatters Katy Yehonala’s world. Her husband, Simon, has been murdered in a remote Cambodian border township. What was he doing there?

She discovers an unfinished manuscript called Chavy’s Story hinting at Simon’s secretive work and tells the harrowing story of a young village girl trafficked for sex. Katy and Clara travel to Cambodia in search of answers.

The riddles buried in the pages of Chavy’s Story unmask a forgotten horror from Katy’s childhood, and for Clara, a beautiful Italian charity worker threatens to upset a lifetime of modesty.

THE DIARY OF
KATY YEHONALA

Young Asian woman reading The Diary of Katy Yehonala

Nominee: The 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award

A sweeping saga of three generations of extraordinary women who lifted their gaze beyond their turbulent past, each to fulfil unique destinies.

The first is a proud matriarch who believes honouring family is worth any sacrifice.

The second is born into a revolution and travels the world, still scarred by her childhood demons.

The third soars to breathtaking heights on the world stage, a mother’s selfless love beneath her wings.

Exquisitely narrated, The Diary of Katy Yehonala brilliantly evokes another time and place, laying bare its drama and beauty in haunting landscapes and vivid portraits of unforgettable women.