Amy Falls Down

The endearingly bitter writer, Amy Gallup, 60, has happily isolated herself from the world spending the last two decades... (more)

The endearingly bitter writer, Amy Gallup, 60, has happily isolated herself from the world spending the last two decades teaching and reviewing. She has done a lot of thinking, but very little writing. She hasn't published a book in 20 years, and she's settled into a quiet life with her beloved basset hound, Alphonse. On an unassuming morning, in her slippers, Amy trips in her backyard, goes head-over-heels, and into the side of a birdbath. She knocks herself out just hours before she's scheduled to play the role of has-been local writer, none too excited about the newspaper interview she's agreed to give. But her head injury leads her to be interpreted as a rambling genius, which in turn brings media attention and reopens the door to writing. The hospital clears her of head injury, so Amy returns home. When a local reporter shows up for a scheduled interview, Amy is not quite herself. The article paints Amy as a the zen-goddess of writing, publishing, and life. Her bizarre interview was interpreted as the rambling of a true genius. But all that really happened was: Amy fell down! The next thing she knows, friends and fans are coming out of the woodwork. Suddenly Amy is on radio shows, keynoting a major publishing event, and guiding a local writers' retreat. But the strangest thing of all: Amy starts to write. Readers witness Amy confront her past and present, and choose to take down the walls she so carefully wrote up around her. This novel is a mirror into today's publishing world, a humorous roman-a-clef about a bitterly uninspired writer who decides to change her life after a freak accident. (less)