What is the title of your latest release?
MANHATTAN TRIPTYCH
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
40 years in the friendship of three women, up to the moment one of them disappears.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It required no decision on my part. Manhattan is as much a part of the story as anything else, the way it has so drastically changed since the ‘70s. As the women change, so does the city.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would, but I would hang on for dear life to my husband.
What are three words that describe your hero?
There are three heroines, really. Diane is very smart and a bit self-destructive, Nikki’s reckless choices in her early twenties caused her to seek shelter early in conventionalism, and Orla is a passionate dreamer. (I know, that’s more than three words.)
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that moving back and forth in time can work if you have a very firm grip on where you’re going.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I constantly edit. Each morning when I pick up the manuscript, I read to the end of what I’ve written, editing all the way. It’s like molding clay, and starting to realize that the bowl you thought you were making is really a pitcher.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate lava cake.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s anywhere. I write on the move. When we travel, and even when we don’t, I sometimes write in bed. And I need silence, I’m not one of those writers who works better with music or ambient sound. Silence is precious.
Who is an author you admire?
Lately, Claire Keegan. “Antarctica” just killed me.
Is there a book that changed your life?
The Diary of Anne Frank woke me up to the tragedy of life, how deeply flawed humankind is. I’ve never gotten over that revelation.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I’ve been a published playwright for many years. When I wrote my first novel, the historical novel “The Serpent and the Rose,” I reached out to scores of agents and editors about it and received nothing in response. Not even, “We’ve received your book and are considering it.” Nothing. It caused me to realize how deeply saturated the marketplace is, and because I am a woman of little patience, I decided to take matters into my own hands and self-publish. I never regretted it. I have friends who are still shopping their first books years later, and I have finished my second novel. Life is short; grab your piece of the pie now.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Psychological explorations of relationships and character, hopefully in an interesting setting and time. Sometimes sci-fi, for its mind-expanding potential. I recently really enjoyed Hervé Le Tellier’s “The Anomaly.”
What’s your favorite movie?
I have to have a favorite movie? Do you know how old I am? Never mind! I don’t have a favorite movie. (Okay, “All About Eve,” for its delicious dialogue.)
What is your favorite season?
Let’s say spring.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
By going out to a favorite intimate spot with my husband and celebrating quietly, or maybe with another couple. I would not enjoy a surprise party or some big event, it would make me hugely self-conscious. Simple is better, although if he wanted to take me to Venice or Paris or something for that intimate dinner, I wouldn’t object.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’ve recently been filling a big gap in my reading education by reading the works of Carson McCullers. She’s not recent, but she’s excellent, and for the longest time I thought she was a man. “In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson was a recent read that made an impression, because it is just incredible how long it took for the American diplomat in Berlin to realize that Hitler was a bad guy. It’s very similar to what’s going on now.
For TV: My husband and I really enjoyed the two seasons of “Wolf Hall.” Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis played off one another beautifully, and it felt real, not like some of the silly stuff we’re seeing recently that purport to be historical but are really just fiction.
As for movies, the one that has stuck with me the most lately was “The Apprentice,” which few people in America have seen because I believe it was withdrawn from the theatres or didn’t get a significant distribution deal, for less than mysterious reasons. It’s a very good inside look at the makings of an extremely toxic person. Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, the man who brought out all the evil potential in his protégé, is chillingly good.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
The kind that involves cheese. A parmesan risotto with truffle shavings can induce great happiness.
What do you do when you have free time?
I read, write, I sometimes play tennis. We travel. I doom-scroll.
What can readers expect from you next?
We are currently in Ireland rehearsing perhaps my funniest play, “Life Expectancy: A Comedy in Three Trimesters.” I have adapted it for Irish audiences; the couple navigating the minefield of their late-in-life pregnancy are now an Irish couple stuck in America during the fascist takeover. Hilarity ensues.
The story of three women who first meet as actresses in a summer stock production of "Fiddler on the Roof," and go on to be the best of friends for the next four decades. They experience much together -- love, marriage, illness, adultery, loss, even betrayal, yet somehow the friendship persists....until one of them unexpectedly drops out of sight. Alarmed for her well-being, the other two return to Manhattan, the site of memories both euphoric and painful, to search for her. In the process of looking for her, they come to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves.
The story travels back and forth in time much the way memory does, piecing together the women's friendship against the background of the AIDS crisis, the savings and loan debacle, the World Trade Center tragedy, the California wildfires, and the ever-changing face of Manhattan.
Women's Fiction Friendship | Fiction Literary | Suspense [Independently Published, On Sale: October 10, 2025, e-Book, / eISBN: 9798999291110]
Catherine Butterfield began her career as an actress and then turned to writing plays, many of which have been published and performed in the US, England, Australia, and Spain. She has been a writer or writer/producer on the television programs “The Ghost Whisperer,” “Grimm”, “Party of Five, and “FAME LA" and has done uncredited work on a number of feature films. Two of her short films, "Faultless" and "Just Another BIrthday in Bedlam," have won Telly awards, a gold and a bronze for Best Remote Production. Her Youtube channel has a large number of the short films she shot during the pandemic under the heading "Life During Lockdown," as well as readings of a few of her plays.
“The Serpent and the Rose” was Ms. Butterfield’s first novel. Her newest, "Manhattan Triptych," is out in October. She lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California.
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