Pickle's Progress

"The four main characters in Pickle's Progress seem more alive than most of the people we know in real life because their fears and desires are so nakedly exposed. That's because their creator, Marcia Butler, possesses truly scary X-ray vision and intelligence to match." —Richard Russo, author

"Invigorating, sly and mordantly funny, Pickle's Progress offers a comic look at the foibles of human nature and all the ways love can seduce, betray and, ultimately, sustain us." —Jillian Medoff, bestselling author of This Could Hurt

"Marcia Butler's debut novel is funny, sharp, totally original, and completely engrossing. It joins the pantheon of great New York novels. I loved every page." —Julie Klam, author of The Stars in Our Eyes

"Oh, what a pickle Pickle's Progress puts us in—a duke's mixture of villainy, deceit, betrayal, and, Lord help us, romantic love—all of it rendered in prose as trenchant as it is supple." —Lee K. Abbott, author of All Things, All at Once

"Butler's blazingly original novel debut is a quintessential moving, witty, New York City story about the love we think we want, the love we get, and the love we deserve, all played out with symphonic grace. I loved it." —Caroline Leavitt, NYT bestselling author

"Written in brave and startling prose, Butler has written a fast-paced tale of identical twin brothers and the women in their orbit, who collide and dance in a haunting tale of tragedy, passion and love. " —Patty Dann, author of Mermaids

"Butler's sharp, artistic sensibilities shine through, and the result is a brutal, funny story of family, regret, and belonging." —Amy Poeppel, author of Limelight

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shake your head, but you'll keep turning those pages to find out what happens to Karen, Stan, Junie, and Pickle in this riveting, dramatic version of musical chairs." — Charles Salzberg, author of Second Story Man