INDEN ÅRET ER OMME —Hvad 64 sommerfugle lærte mig om naturens største gåde
BEFORE THE YEAR IS OUT —What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature’s Greatest Mystery
by Lea Korsgaard
IN THE DARKNESS of winter on the first day of the year, Lea Korsgaard is making a list. She has set out to see all Danish butterfly species in a single year. She knows nothing about butterflies. She doesn’t know why she wants to see them. She just knows that something is calling her. It’s like a pull. THE LIST OF butterflies takes her to landscapes she never knew existed, shaped by the wind and by the sea. She walks on ancient seabeds and hills made of algae shells. She is led to secret places by people who offer their help. The quest also leads into the world of books, philosophy and mythology. Because ever since humans started thinking about the meaning of life and death, the butterfly has symbolized the hope of rebirth—and confronted us with the biggest questions of existence: Why do we live? And what are we living for?
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Zetland, Denmark 2025
RIGHTS SOLD
Denmark, Zetland
REVIEWS
“Lea Korsgaard’s book is one of those books that makes the world richer. Because it has a message and because it wants to go somewhere. In the midst of melancholy. It tells us that if we want to give nature a chance, we must learn to love it. Not just as aesthetics, but from the bones. From the inside out. We must see that we are connected. That we are cut from the same cloth. It comes at the cost of old habitual thinking. It begins when the author, who otherwise has enough on her plate as editor-in-chief of the online media Zetland, has the idea one cold winter day that she wants to see all the country’s butterfly species within a certain year. Scheduled, photographed, dated. Not that there’s any thought behind it. Or rather: The idea is to see if there is a thought behind it. And there is. Many thoughts.”
Kristeligt Dagblad
“detailed, sensory, precise […] she is childishly enthusiastic, and it is contagious. When she describes her hunt for butterflies, it’s almost like reading a crime novel (it’s strangely exciting to see if she finds them!). But it’s also like reading a love story (it’s strangely moving when she does!).”
Politiken
“Lea Korsgaard’s tantalizing butterfly annals turn disciplined insect hunting into an interpretation of existence. […] A well-written and thought-provoking work that avoids the many pitfalls of the sub-genre, from the uncomfortably self-righteous (Humaidan) to the boringly chatty (Brinkmann). In short, Korsgaard’s book is excellent. Before the Year Is Out is continuously illustrated with the author’s own fine butterfly drawings, is an excellent and extremely well-composed book, first-class literary journalism.”
Weekendavisen
“With her book about butterflies, Lea Korsgaard re-enchants the world. It’s a book about chasing butterflies, but it’s just as much a book about the meaning of life – and a wonderful defense of an endangered nature.”
Information
“You don’t have to share her view of nature and the world in detail to be hooked. Her good writing is the kind that happens when the beautifully nerdy unfolds. It’s about passion, which in a way is its own purpose, but which always, when managed with, well, passion, becomes so much more. Lea Korsgaard’s account of her inner and outer journeys becomes one of those books that makes the world a little bigger. Even when it’s about the smallest of things.”
Berlingske
“The book manages to combine nature observation, personal development, and existential reflections in a way that speaks to both the head and the heart. It invites the reader to see the world—and the butterflies in it—with renewed awareness and wonder.”
Review by the Danish Libraries
BOOKS
Non-Fiction
