PICKLE’S PROGRESS by Marcia Butler & Giveaway

Suicide, twin brothers and alcoholism – all take hold in an upper west-side brownstone and provide some of the quirkiest moments you’ll remember – forever in Marcia Butler’s new novel, PICKLE’S PROGRESS. Before even starting to read the novel, I just had to giggle saying the word pickle. It’s just a funny word to me. Anyway …

Renowned architectural team, Karen and Stan McArdle, are drunk again and driving home over the George Washington Bridge to their Upper West Side brownstone after yet another tedious dinner party with their friends who have escaped the city. A young woman, Junie, flags them down, frantic because her boyfriend has just jumped to his death. They call Stan’s identical twin brother, Pickle, who is a cop, to rescue not just Junie, but also help them avoid a potential DUI.

Karen invites Junie to stay in the perfectly decorated lower level of their brownstone, partly because she feels sorry for the distraught young woman and but also as a buffer for her dysfunctional marriage. Pickle immediately takes advantage of the situation. A guileless Junie becomes the object of his affections and serves as an unwitting psychological pawn for the dysfunctional McArdle clan.

Sounds heavy and in places it is, but PICKLE’S PROGRESS is one of the funniest novels I’ve read in a long time. Butler’s subtle humor will have readers snickering throughout. These characters are so self-absorbed they can’t get out of each other’s way. This is one novel you are sure to tell your friends about.

*****

Marcia Butler has had a number of creative careers: professional musician, interior designer, documentary filmmaker, and author. As an oboist, the New York Times has hailed her as a “first rate artist.” During her musical career, she performed as a principal oboist and soloist on the most renowned of New York and international stages, with many high-profile musicians and orchestras – including pianist Andre Watts, and composer/pianist Keith Jarrett. Her interior designs projects have been published in numerous shelter magazines and range up and down the East coast, from NYC to Boston, to Miami. The Creative Imperative, her documentary film exploring the essence of creativity, will release in Spring 2019.

Marcia’s nationally acclaimed memoir, The Skin Above My Knee, was one of the Washington Post’s “top ten noteworthy moments in classical music in 2017”. She was chosen as 2017 notable debut author in 35 OVER 35. Her writing has been published in Literary Hub, PANK Magazine, Psychology Today, Aspen Ideas Magazine, Catapult, Bio-Stories and others. Marcia was a 2015 recipient of a Writer-in-Residence through Aspen Words and the Catto Shaw Foundation. She was a writing fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a writer in residence at The Betsy Hotel. She lives in New York City.

Thanks to Marcia, we have one copy to give away. Just tell us the quirkiest character you remember reading. For me, it’s Vivian in the 2017 novel, EGGSHELLS written by Irish author, Caitriona Lally. What’s yours? We’ll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please.