She knows harsh truths of 'Butterfly Girl's' world

In Rene Denfeld's "The Butterfly Girl," trauma is everywhere. There's Naomi, "The Child Finder" of Denfeld's 2017 novel of the same name, a private investigator still trying to find her own missing sister. And there's Celia, a 12-year-old living on the streets after escaping an abusive father.

And yet, in the hands of Denfeld, "The Butterfly Girl" is a crime thriller built upon redemption. A survivor of trauma who was herself homeless as a young girl in Portland, Ore., Denfeld knows the harsh truths of her book's world.

She's been a