Loading...
From the creators of The Silent History

A Novel in 10 days

In a glum nation ruled by a stylish dictator, all citizens are required by law to participate in the Pickle Index, a fermentation-based recipe exchange. From within this network, an incompetent circus attempts an unlikely uprising.

Thrills, chills, spills, & dills!


Which Pickle Index is Right For You?

All editions include the full story and are designed as stand-alone experiences.

Outside-In

Read the book — two lavishly illustrated hardcovers nestled together in a gold-encrusted slipcase, plus an unprecedented feat of interactive book design.
Learn more…

Buy direct from us

Inside-Out

Enter the Index itself, experiencing the unfolding story (and disgusting recipes) alongside the citizens and amateur revolutionaries.
Learn more…

Download from the App Store


THE STORY

A hapless circus troupe tours the countryside of a downtrodden nation, trying to earn a living the best way they know — even though their best isn’t very good at all: a morose contortionist, a strongman who’d rather be miming, a lion tamer paired with an elderly dog, etc. Toward the end of a typically glum performance, Zloty Kornblatt, the troupe’s ringmaster, accidentally blunders into a mockery of the nation’s glorious leader. He doesn’t even know why the sparse crowd is laughing, but they are — and so he continues with the inadvertent satire, ending the show on a rare triumphant note.

The confused ringmaster is quickly captured, thrown into prison, and sentenced to death. The troupe must design an intricate prison-break built around their unique (and possibly useless) skills. Hijinks ensue, recounted with deadpan humor and flickering hope by Flora Bialy, Zloty’s understudy and our shy narrator.


The Pickle Index is full of life and everything else — rowdy and sweaty and heartbreaking and funny.”

—Miranda July


BOXED EDITION

The boxed edition of The Pickle Index consists of two separate hardcovers: one containing updates from The Daily Scrutinizer, an enthusiastic state-sanctioned newspaper; the other collecting misguided recipes from Flora Bialy, the assistant ringmaster of an unpopular circus. By alternating chapter-by-chapter between these two volumes, a single story emerges, as Flora and her collaborators attempt to forestall their leader’s looming execution.

Each book features ten large, full-spread illustrations, one for each day of the story; each of these illustrations can be combined with their counterpart in the accompanying book — sometimes horizontally, sometimes vertically, sometimes requiring rotation or other unexpected alignments — to create a larger unified panorama. The experience of integrating each pair functions simultaneously as a visual puzzle, sequential art, and exquisite corpse.

Buy direct from us


DIGITAL EDITION

The digital edition of The Pickle Index takes the form of the mandatory recipe-exchange network itself. The story unfolds over the course of ten days (both in story time and real time), revealing the narrative through the various features of the app: popular vinegar-based recipes, daily news updates, dynamic maps, and Q&A.

Along the way, the app plays with serialization, mini-games, reader participation, upvoting, and even network overloads—all in service of the central narrative, the story of a dysfunctional circus forced to attempt an unlikely prison break. The result is an immersive, exploratory ten-day experience, a uniquely digital interplay of form and content.