Title:The Manicurist
Author:Phyllis Schieber
Publisher:Bell Bridge Books
Release Date:July 25, 2011
Pages:258
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Purchase: BarnesAndNoble|Amazon
Rating:5 Books
About the Book:
The Manicurist is the story of Tessa Emanuel, a young woman who is engulfed by vivid images of the past. When Tessa is a child, both parents allegedly die in a car accident. However, the body of Tessa mother, Ursula, is never found. Tessa is obsessed by memories of her mother, whose battle with mental illness made Tessa’s childhood a secret world of intrigue and betrayal. Now married with a daughter, Tessa must come to terms with her own identity as a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a woman—but above all she must seek release from her haunting memories and a gift of clairvoyance that threatens to dismantle her life. At times she wants to escape this “gift,” but eventually she uses it discreetly in her work as a manicurist—where a peculiar client changes her future forever. Mysterious and compassionate, The Manicurist is a spellbinding novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life.
About the Author:
The first great irony of Phyllis Schieber’s life was that she was born in a Catholic hospital. Her parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants. In the mid-fifties, her family moved to Washington Heights, an enclave for German Jews on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, known as “Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson.”
She graduated from high school at sixteen, earned a B.A. in English from Herbert H. Lehman College, an M.A. in Literature from New York University, and later an M.S. as a Developmental Specialist from Yeshiva University.
She lives in Westchester County where she spends her days creating new stories and teaching writing. She is married and the mother of a grown son, an aspiring opera singer.
The Manicurist was a finalist in the 2011 Inaugural Indie Publishing Contest sponsored by the San Francisco Writer’s Conference.
Phyllis Schieber is the author of three other novels, The Sinner’s Guide to Confession, Willing Spirits, and Strictly Personal.
You can visit her website at www.phyllisschieberauthor.com.
My Review:
In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this novel. This is a new-to-me author and the book just sounded a bit different to me. But, I was anxious to give it a try. And, wow! I was pleasantly surprised with the out come of this novel….it’s gripping, it’s a whirl wind ride, and magnificently written by a fantastically talented author.
Tessa. Bless her. She is a beautifully created character. As a manicurist though, she has one major issue though. A flaw like no other, and one that cause many problems for her in life, especially her marriage to Walt. She’s a seer. A seer of the future. It causes many issues for her, but she just wants to be normal. She just wants to find her self and be the wife and mother her husband and daughter need.
Along with being a seer, Tessa has unanswered problems from her past…..a mother who disappeared long ago. But, will it be the gift Tessa has that unsettles her marriage and relationships, or will it be the past that comes back full force, that undoes everything that Tessa has worked so hard to build?
I totally loved this by the end. The twists and turns are enough to keep any reader on the edge of their seat with anticipation of the ending. And oh what an ending it was! I highly recommend this FANTABULOUS complex novel to everyone! It’s 5 Books worthy, and will please everyone who loves a good novel of suspense, family, and finding one’s true self. DEFINITELY a keeper!
