Synopsis
The Madison Picker is a witty and heartwarming semi-autobiographical novel based on the author's own day-to-day experiences as an antiques dealer and collector over four decades. The book's characters are Charles and Emma Dawes. Emma is a Peruvian beauty and certified interpreter. The two met on Match. Other than Charles having more hair than the author, most of the facts are real-world and the anecdotes are not exaggerated. The two live in Barboursville, Virginia and travel far and wide to search for anything that they can buy low to sell high. In this first title in the Picker Series they travel to Culpeper, Charlottesville, Lexington, Woodstock, Edinburg, Harrisonburg, Brownsburg, and then they jet down to Key West with their two pals where Emma goes shopping while Charles pursues bonefish. They drive back picking antiques along the way. Picker reads more like a travelogue than a novel; there's NO plot and NO climax. If you like Public Television's Antiques Roadshow, you'll probably find a thing or two that you like about The Madison Picker. Library of Congress Control Number: 2014902355.
About the Author
"My interests are reading, writing, and traveling but I was an avid collector for decades. It was one of the worst habits to kick. For 25 years I fed the habit as an antiques dealer. Shopping was half of the job description. Except for auctioneering, I was involved in all other categories of the business: picker, shopkeeper, mall operator, eBayer, restoration, schlepping, trading, hauling, and lately a PBS TV personality (Chesapeake Collectibles), etc. Nowadays I make a living as an accredited appraiser (ASA). I live in Northern Virginia with my Peruvian wife, Chany. In my Picker Series, which is what I call "occupational fiction," Chany is Emma and I am Charles Dawes. The novels, all my books really, are written in the first person. As I once did, Charles and Emma travel around Virginia, The States, Europe, and the rest of the world searching for undervalued treasures ("sleepers"). Most of the anecdotes are based on my real experience. Chany and I actually do travel extensively for business and pleasure. In May 2014 we were in Spain researching and in January 2015 we went to Machu Picchu. Both of us wound up in a hospital with altitude sickness; the medics put me in a barometric chamber! If nothing else, the Peru trip was rich in material for my second sequel in the Picker series, South Boston Beauty. But first you should read, Some Kind of Good, which is the second title in the series. In it Emma and Charles lead a antiquing tour group to London and Paris.
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