Remembering a Friend, a Writer….Gone Too Soon

Amy Sue Nathan’s bio on Face Book reads: Writer of novels, lover of cats, morning coffee, good chocolate, and bold lipstick. Occasional crafter, loyal friend, adequate cook, proud mom to 2 awesome adults.

Yes to all of this….but Amy was so much more…a writer of wonderful novels. 

Amy and I had both lived in Flossmoor, Illinois, but we did not know each other until the publication of her first novel: The Glass Wives. It was a time when my husband and I were leading busy lives, first moving to Des Moines, Iowa, then later to Westlake Village, California. But I kept in touch with Amy, following her amazing career. Then on a visit to Chicago, we met for dinner at Fresh Starts, a celebrated eatery in Flossmoor, Illinois, where both of us had lived at one time. Life is full of coincidences.

Amy had already published THE GLASS WIVES and was working on THE GOOD NEIGHBOR. We talked about writing, family and our goals. Amy encouraged my work and shared some of her writing process.

Latter, when she was conducting online classes for writers, I was right there, sending her my work, appreciating her analysis, her always right to the point comments. Amy was tireless, wise, often using events in her own life to fuel her fiction. She also knew how to step away from reality, creating stories with endings that better served her joys and sorrows, loves, hopes and desires. I read all of Amy’s novels, reviewing most of them on this blog…the last being WELL BEHAVED WIVES.

I miss Amy, often wondering if she left us with an unfinished novel, a work with the same amazing storylines and characters she always brought to life on the page. Thus…here is some of her work:  

Her debut: THE GLASS WIVES: Evie and Nicole Glass share a last name, and the same husband. When a tragic car accident ends Richard Glass’s life, this changes the two women’s lives and thus os their children. Then Evie sees a silver lining–she can rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother. She wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family. Thus considering the financial aspects of the situation, Evie agrees to share living expenses–and her home–with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie questions who she can trust. She must also ask: what makes a family? 

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR

When small lies have big consequences…”Things are a little rough for Izzy Lane. Reeling from the wreck-up of her marriage, the newly single mom moves back to the Philadelphia home she grew up in, five-year-old Noah in tow. A difficult transition is helped by one of her best friends-and her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Feldman-Izzy feeling like she’s stepping closer to her new normal. Then her ex-husband shows up with his girlfriend, causing to invent a boyfriend of her own. Life gets complicated, though Izzy continues to blog about this new love. What’s the harm in a few made-up stories? But when friends want to meet the mysterious “Mac,” someone online suspects Izzy’s a fraud, a real-life guy catching her eye, Izzy realizing the stakes are high.

Twelve-year-old Shayna– talented, persistent, and adorable–persuaded “Aunt Tee” to return to Chance, Ohio, to photograph her father’s wedding. Even though it’s been six years since Shay’s mother, Celia, died, Teddi can hardly bear the thought of her best friend’s husband marrying someone else. But Teddi’s bond with Shay is stronger than the hurt.

A former beauty queen facing the secrets of her past must make choices for the sake of her family’s future. In the summer of 1951 all seemed possible. Betty Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’ lakeside resort, the perfect place for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New York City and a career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first, she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling in love with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South Haven pageant. Then, Betty’s future was limitless. Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season still reverberate, Betty, now known as Boop. But when her granddaughter comes to Betty with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams, it is time to face the past. Life is now her family, her own happiness. In reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Betty will discover it’s never too late for a  second chance. The last book of Amy published was WELL BEHAVED WIFES, wonderful! 

Her books are available on Amazon.