AMY SCHEIBE
​FOLLOW ME
"Captures both the heartache and the liberation of finding one's own path." People Magazine Pick of the Week
THE BOOKS
A Fireproof Home for the Bride
​The winter of 1958 in Moorhead, Minnesota, is dark, sere, and cold. No one feels the smallness and strictness more than Emmaline Nelson, just eighteen and ready to burst out of the poor confines of her Lutheran farming family. Emmy was promised at twelve to Ambrose Brann, the older son of wealthy neighbors, but a chance meeting with a dreamy small-town boy from Fargo shakes her up: marriage doesn't have to--should't--be a preordained obligation. Bobby Doyle is young, ambitious, and Catholic--and therefore forbidden by her mother. But after a particularly horrifying date with Ambrose, the last of Emmy's obedience vanishes, and she is soon living with an eccentric aunt and pursuing a career in the newsroom of the Fargo Forum instead of unpacking her trousseau in the Brann household. Yet even as Emmy forges her own path, she is drawn back into the past to discover that her family harbors terrible secrets, and before long, she has to choose between blood and truth.
A classic coming-of-age story, A Fireproof Home for the Bride is filled with the charm of its period, from the washing of the widow's weeds to the group date at the diner to the small-town movie theater and is penny popcorn. Dramatic, unflinching, and fast moving, it is a rich story of the wrong love giving way to the right.
What Do You Do All Day?
Amazon.com's #1 Women's Fiction Pick of 2005
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Bright, witty, and covered in homemade play-dough, Jennifer Bradley has traded her fabulous job at a New York auction house for the life of a stay-at-home mom. No one said it would be easy. Between the alpha moms all around her and a backstabbing mother-in-law, there’s little hope that maternal instinct alone will save her. And perhaps it was less than helpful of her husband, Thom, to suddenly take off on business to Singapore for the next who-knows-how-long, leaving behind the faint scent of an extramarital affair. And this may not be the best time for Jennifer’s old flame, a former child star, to show up on her doorstep, looking to patch things up.
Praise:
"Amy Scheibe’s knowing observations about all-consuming alpha motherhood add a piquancy to a landscape that will be highly familiar to readers who find themselves at the weird juncture where Jimmy Choo meets Fisher-Price."—Meg Wolitzer, The Washington Post Book World
"Scheibe wins us over with honest—and funny—observations of parenting minutiae."—Entertainment Weekly
"Sharp, smart, and true. Hear one of the few fiercely independent and provocative voices in contemporary women’s fiction tell you what it’s really like on the inside."—Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry
"A fun read, jam-packed with witty barbs."—Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, authors of The Nanny Diaries
"Scheibe’s hilarious debut is rife with wry observations… . With a light touch and a sparkling plot, she takes on the conundrums—and beauty—of motherhood for driven, yet nurturing women."—Publishers Weekly
In What Do You Do All Day, first time novelist Amy Scheibe chronicles the pains, pleasures, and play-dates of a stay-at-home-mother who’s struggling to be the best parent on the block while retaining some sliver of sanity. The fast-paced, spirited story—a sort of Bridget Jones for the modern mother—answers the title question easily. —Amazon.com Review, chosen #1 in Women’s Fiction