For as long as she can remember, Peppa Ryan has been guided by a benevolent voice in her head who she believes is Virginia Woolf. Though she’s an exceptionally bright twenty-year-old, she suffers from crippling low self-esteem and has barely left her parents’ ramshackle home in Queens, New York. Set at the turn of the millennium, Peppa defies her parent’s wishes and ventures out on her own to start a job at a Wall Street investment firm. But her parents continue to pull strings, insisting she date a handsome but penniless plumber in the hopes that she’ll abandon her job and return to her roots. Peppa plans to immediately dismiss the plumber on their first date, but to her surprise they discover an unlikely bond over a shared love of the novels of Virginia Woolf. In spite of her parent’s efforts, Peppa continues to flourish and her confidence grows as those around her recognize and admire her analytical prowess. Then, when her relationship with her parents and the plumber becomes untenable due to a devastating betrayal, Peppa succumbs to her mental fragilities and suffers a collapse. With the help of her kindhearted boss, his eccentric client, and the voice of Virginia, Peppa recovers. And on one crisp and clear autumn morning she considers a path to reconciliation.
“Full of wit, charm, and its fair share of everything bagels, Marcia Butler’s moving book manages to be a warm and generous New York novel while grappling with the ghosts of childhood trauma, lost literary heroes, and societal definitions of “madness”. Her protagonist believes she’s being guided by the voice of Virginia Woolf, but it is Butler’s voice—comforting and astute, alive to the music of kindness as well as betrayal—that holds you to the end. ”—Jonathan Lee, international best-selling author of High Dive and The Great Mistake
