By: Rebecca Holt

Kelly Scarborough did not stumble into writing historical fiction. She arrived there slowly, deliberately, and with a lifetime of lived experience behind her.

Before she was a novelist, Kelly was a lawyer for twenty years. She was also raising a family, navigating motherhood as an autism mom, and doing what many high-performing women do well. She kept going, even when there was little space left for herself.

Books were once her refuge. Over time, reading became a luxury.

That absence mattered more than she realized.

The Moment That Changed Everything

In 2014, exhaustion caught up with her. It was the middle of the night, and she was working on a legal brief while the rest of her family slept. She paused, not because she planned to rethink her life, but because her mind needed a break.

That was when a book from her teenage years resurfaced. Désirée by Annemarie Selinko. A novel she had read repeatedly, drawn to its sweep, its romance, and its emotional pull.

Instead of returning to work, Kelly started researching. What began as curiosity turned into fascination. She fell into the history of Sweden during the Napoleonic era and uncovered stories that seemed to be just as dramatic as in the more familiar stories from France or England.

One figure stood out. A young Swedish countess named Jacquette.

Kelly knew almost immediately that this story would likely not let her go.

Choosing the Harder Path

Walking away from a legal career is not a casual decision. Kelly knew she had talent as a lawyer. She had built a reputation. She understood the rules of that world.

Writing fiction meant starting from zero.

She had never been to Sweden. She did not speak Swedish. She was not trained as a novelist.

None of that stopped her.

Instead, it slowed her down in the best way. Kelly committed herself to learning the country, the language, and the people whose lives she wanted to bring to the page. Over the next ten years, she studied Swedish, collected antique books, traveled repeatedly to Scandinavia, and immersed herself in letters, archives, and historical spaces.

She did not want the setting to feel borrowed. She wanted it to feel genuinely earned.

A Story Built on Emotion, Not Perfection

Butterfly Games lives at the intersection of romance and power. Set in a Europe reshaping itself after Napoleon’s fall, the novel follows Jacquette as she navigates love, ambition, loyalty, and consequence.

There is a love triangle. There is political intrigue. There is a secret child. But the real tension lies in choice.

Jacquette is not written as a flawless heroine. She makes decisions driven by desire, fear, and hope. She misjudges people. She underestimates systems built to control her.

That imperfection is the point.

Kelly is clear that she is not writing historical fiction for readers who want footnotes to outweigh feeling. Her approach aligns more closely with writers like Philippa Gregory, who reimagine history through a deeply personal lens.

Accuracy matters. Emotional truth matters more.

Why This Story Finds Its Readers

Kelly’s core audience includes women over forty-five, readers who love travel, period drama, and richly textured settings. Book club readers, fans of royalty, and readers curious about Scandinavian history will likely find plenty to discuss.

But Butterfly Games resonates beyond its genre because of what it says quietly.

Women’s choices have always existed within limits. Romance has always come with consequences. Power has rarely belonged to those most affected by it.

Kelly borrows a phrase from Jodi Picoult when describing her work. Not much has changed for women in five hundred years.

That observation gives the novel its relevance.

Writing Without Explaining Everything

Kelly trusts her readers. She does not over-explain political context or emotional motivation. Instead, she lets scenes breathe and allows relationships to unfold naturally.

She wants readers to suspend their need to analyze and step fully into the story.

That approach makes the novel immersive rather than instructional.

A Life Between Pages and Place

Today, Kelly divides her time between the Connecticut Shoreline and South Carolina’s Lowcountry. On social media, she shares a candid look at life as a mother, a wife, and a writer whose muse occasionally arrives in the form of a Shih Tzu.

Her voice is warm, observant, and unpretentious.

The same qualities show up on the page.

Why Butterfly Games Matter

This book is not just the result of historical research. It is the product of patience. Of choosing a slower road. Of allowing curiosity to lead rather than credentials.

Kelly did not rush this novel into existence. She lived with it. She learned for it. She changed because of it.

That depth shows.

Butterfly Games is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The post Kelly Scarborough Took the Long Way to Fiction, and That Is What Makes Butterfly Games Work appeared first on Miami Wire.