Demon Butterfly

A razor-sharp, voice-driven debut novel that takes you inside the cutthroat world of corporate fashion and delves deep into ambition, power, identity, and the price of success.

Elke, a copywriter working in the shiny yet brutal world of mainstream fashion, has just been given a troubling task: craft a public apology for JP, her company’s CEO, who’s seeking absolution after accusations of “inappropriate behavior” on set with models. Her conscience reels, but, fueled by a pathological need for approval and the fear she’ll never be as successful as her music producer boyfriend or ex-friends with book deals, she looks past the explosive claims and does as she’s asked. It works—JP faces little backlash, and Elke’s ascent proceeds for the small price of a piece of her soul.

When a former model reaches out to Elke with bizarre and disturbing new information about the company and its egomaniacal CEO, though, she must suddenly reckon with everything she’s sacrificed for a slice of power. With her personal life on the brink of collapse and the fevered, absurd hustle of the job almost too much to bear, will Elke make things right? Or keep trying to climb the ladder of a corrupt institution?

A workplace drama gleaming with sharp satire, Mica Lemiski's Demon Butterfly is a rare glimpse at the warping effect the grind can have on the mind and morals of a career-driven young woman.