For all of you out there who have a soft spot, or rather a sweet spot for Greenwich Village in New York City then The Sweet Spot is for you. And for those of you who don’t have a sweet spot for Greenwich Village, then this novel is also for you. It’s heartwarming and hilarious with endearing characters, including the supporting ones who often steal the show. The novel touches on several issues close to my heart- love, hate and female rage.
Hell hath no fury… Meet Melinda, a scorned woman with a stellar imagination. But Melinda isn’t the only star. You’ll be hard-pressed to choose a favorite character in this zany story about three women – Lauren, Olivia and Melinda- who get off to a very frosty start but form an unexpected sorority when a baby—belonging to not one of them—lands on their collective doorstep. Who the baby belongs to is another madcap tale woven ingenuously into the main one.
Author Amy Poeppel explains in this amusing book trailer why she set her story in charming Greenwich Village.
Amy, how did the idea of this comic novel come to you?
I knew from the start that I wanted to write a book about a group of people in Greenwich Village who are strangers at the outset of the story but whose lives become unexpectedly and hopelessly intertwined. Greenwich Village is a very special little corner of New York City; it is as lively and loud as any other neighborhood in Manhattan, but it has the look and feel of a charming town. I decided to invent a brownstone on Waverly Place and fill it with people, their problems, and their pets. I didn’t want the family living there to be overly comfortable in their fabulous house, so I gave them dated appliances, hideous wallpaper, and a noisy dive bar operating out of the basement.
I also wanted the book to be a tribute to the numerous female friends I have who have been through all kinds of upset, challenge, and change and have managed to reinvent themselves in exciting and inspirational ways. I am fascinated by how resilient women are when they discover that their lives are perhaps not what they thought. And I always love finding the humor in life’s many surprises.
How much of this novel is autobiographical? Do you live in Greenwich Village, ever own gerbils, or have a baby land on your doorstep?
I think all of my books are inspired in some way by my experiences, from conversations I’ve overheard, to places I’ve been, to people I’ve met. And I do, in fact, live in Greenwich Village, just a few blocks from Washington Square Park! I have worked in schools, so my view of kids and parents is something I love to include in my novels. And while I’ve never had a gerbil, I’ve had a couple of hamsters and guinea pigs and am currently mom to the cutest dog on the planet.
If you weren’t a writer, what would you like to be and why?
Maybe I missed my calling as a therapist. I love thinking about people’s personalities, their pasts, their problems, and their ways of coping. I would have liked to help people consider their behavior, why they respond to situations the way they do and in how they sabotage themselves. People are endlessly fascinating!
What’s next? I read that you might set your next novel in Berlin, where you live half the year.
I’m currently working on my fifth novel, a book in which two families, one in my hometown of Dallas and one in Berlin, swap houses. There is lots of room for humor in these two cultures and in the particular reasons that these characters are fleeing their problems.
You can read the rest of my Q&A here in 26.
March, 2023
