Much more than just another field guide or a natural history of butterflies Rainbow Dust explores the ways in which butterflies delight and inspire us all, naturalists and non-naturalists alike.

Beginning with the author's own experience of hunting and rearing butterflies as a boy, Peter Marren considers the special place of the butterfly in art, literature, advertising and science, and, latterly, our attempts to conserve them.

Rainbow Dust takes in the controversy over collecting, the women who studied them and the curious details that lead to butterflies being feared as well as loved. This is a celebration of butterflies; one shot through with a sense of wonder but also of sorrow at what we are losing.

A scholarly and captivating excursion into the history of natural history, further enlivened by vivid portraits of some of the butterfly enthusiasts of the past -- Michael McCarthy * Independent *
Never again will this reader, at least, take a butterfly for granted… Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, Rainbow Dust is a truly marvellous book -- Sophia Waugh, 5 stars * Telegraph *
In Peter Marren Britain’s butterflies have found their champion. Is Rainbow Dust worth a flutter? Oh, absolutely -- John Lewis-Stempel * The Times *
[A] superbly distilled statement on our national obsession with butterflies -- Mark Cocker * Spectator *
Whether you know a lot or a little about butterflies, this is an essential read -- Peter Forbes * Independant *
A thoroughly researched and passionate celebration of fragile butterflies * Mail on Sunday *
A celebration of the role that butterflies play in our imagination and cultural lives, examining our enduring fascination for a group of invertebrates that has inspired artists and writers -- Matt Swaine, 4 stars * BBC Focus *
beautifully written... whatever you think you know about butterflies, prepare to be surprised and delighted -- Brett Westwood * BBC Wildlife *
Marren unearths a fascinating tale […] his book is stunning: as stunning as the first Red Admiral on a June morning -- Michael McCarthy * Resurgence & Ecologist *
Riveting. The most important book written about butterflies and their past and current status and their demise. The author is to be congratulated and my thanks to him for so many important memories -- Ray Collier * Highland News Group *

Peter Marren is a wildlife writer, journalist and authority on invertebrate folklore and names. His books include The New Naturalists, which won the Society for the History of Natural History’s Thackray Medal, Britain’s Rare Flowers, which won the Botanical Society of the British Isles’ Presidents’ Award. He won a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for work on Bugs Britannica.