Book Spotlight: The Manicurist by Phyllis Schieber

I wanted to feature a book that I have a forthcoming review for entitled The Manicurist. Big thanks to Pump Up Your Book Virtual Publicity for including me in on this tour, it is a pleasure to be able to feature it!

Book Summary:

Tessa and Walter have, by all appearances, the perfect marriage. And they seem to be ideal parents for their somewhat rebellious teenage daughter, Regina. Without warning, however, their comfortable lives are thrown into turmoil when a disturbing customer comes into the salon where Tessa works as a manicurist. Suddenly, Tessa's world is turned upside down as revelations come to light about the mother she thought had abandoned her in childhood and the second sight that she so guardedly seeks to keep from others. A magical novel of secrets revealed and a family in turmoil, searching together for new beginnings.

PRAISE FOR THE MANICURIST–

“Schieber has painted a fine portrait of the struggles and challenges of being different in an unforgiving world. Her characters are authentic and touching. Using language that is at once both straightforward and evocative, Schieber writes a story that you will recognize and remember long after you read the last page.”

Karen Chase
(Award-winning author of Kazimierz Square, Bear, Land of Stone, and Jamali-Kamali)

About the Author:

Reading was the first line of defense against anything I did not want to do. “I’m reading,” was an excuse my parents never challenged. Education was paramount in our home. There were weekly trips to the library, and the greatly anticipated Friday afternoon story hour. Everything about words seemed interesting and important. I could make sense of the world if I put it on paper. I could even make the world better; people could become smarter and more attractive, and I could make people laugh and cry at will. Writing was powerful. I thought in stories, answered questions in my head and added, “she said” at the end of a sentence. I still do.

The first great irony of my life was that I was born in a Catholic hospital. My parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants. My mother was apparently so nervous she barely slept the entire time she was in the hospital, fearing her fair-skinned, blue-eyed newborn would be switched with another baby. According to family legend, when my paternal grandfather, an observant Jew, came to see his newest granddaughter in the hospital, he was so uncertain of how to behave around the kindly nuns that he tipped his yarmulke to them each time one passed. It was in this haze of paranoia and neuroses, as well as black humor, that the makings of a writer were initiated.

In the mid-fifties, my family moved to Washington Heights, an enclave for German Jews, known as “Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson.” The area offered scenic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades, as well as access to Fort Tryon Park and the mysteries of the Cloisters. I graduated from George Washington High School at sixteen, went on to Bronx Community College, transferred to and graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a B.A. in English and a New York State license to teach English. I earned my M.A. in Literature from New York University and later my M.S. as a Developmental Specialist from Yeshiva University. I have worked as a high school English teacher, a special education teacher, and as a learning disabilities specialist in several college programs.

Marriage and motherhood have given me insights to relationships and the bonds that frame our lives as nothing else could have. I bring those perceptions to my work with what I hope is humor, sensitivity and love.

I live in Westchester County where I spend my days creating new stories, teaching writing, and practicing yoga.

I am the author of three other novels, The Sinner’s Guide to Confession, Willing Spirits, and Strictly Personal.

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Check out more about this author and her work at her website: http://phyllisschieberauthor.com/

You can also check her out on Goodreads HERE

Phyllis Schieber's BLOG