Amy Poeppel Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Amy Poeppel
Amy Poeppel grew up in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Wellesley College and worked as an actress in the Boston area, appearing in a commercial for Brooks Pharmacy, a corporate industrial for Polaroid, and a very horrible episode of America’s Most Wanted, along with numerous plays and other TV spots. While she was in Boston, she also got a Masters in Teaching from Simmons College.

Amy’s married to a neuroscientist at NYU and Director of the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt, named David Poeppel. They’ve lived in many cities, including Berlin, New York City, San Francisco, and have had three sons along the way.

Amy attended sessions at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit and wrote the theatrical version of “Small Admissions”, which was performed there as a staged reading in 2011. Her writing has also appeared in LitHub, The New York Times, The Rumpus, Working Mother, The Belladonna, and Points in Case.

She is a total theater and book nerd, which are two of her absolute favorite things in the world. Writing “Limelight” was her chance to throw herself into the behind the scenes world of Broadway, and she enjoyed every minute of it. Amy goes to see plays whenever she gets the chance, and while she was writing the novel, she met with actors and producers to get the inside scoop. She did a little acting during her twenties, and these experiences were helpful as well. She spoke with some personal assistants, and found their stories to be fascinating.

She taught high school English in the Washington, DC suburbs for many years. After she moved to New York, she worked as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Trevor Day School, where she had the fulfilling experience of meeting and getting to know the hundreds of applicant families.

“Small Admissions” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2016. One young woman gets thrust unexpectedly into the cutthroat world of New York City private school admissions.

Kate Pearson, despite her summa cum laude smarts and innate ambition, has turned into quite the major slacker. After getting unceremoniously dumped by her handsome “almost fiance”, she abandons her plans and instead spends her days just lolling on the couching, and watching episodes of “Sex and the City”. Her buddies don’t know what to do for her besides pass her tissues and hope for a comeback, as Angela, her practical sister, pushes every remedy she can possibly think of, from therapy to trapeze class to job interviews.

Kate, miraculously, manages to land a job in the admissions department at the revered Hudson Day School. In this new position Kate discovers that there is zero time for nonsense or pity during the thick of admissions season, or what her colleagues call “the dark time”. While the process revs up she meets these smart kids that are unlikable, likable kids that aren’t too smart, and Park Avenue parents that refuse to take no for an answer.

Through a crazy and comical run of wildly unpredictable interviews, outright threats, subtle bribes, final judgments, and page turning twists, the occasionally absurd and highly competitive world of private school admissions gets brought to the light in all of its outrageous glory. In a story which is reminiscent of “Prep” by Curtis Sittenfeld.

In an entertaining, witty, and hilarious novel that is like “Primates of Park Avenue” meets “The Devil Wears Prada”.

“Limelight” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2018. A family’s move to New York City brings humor and surprises while their lives merge with the captivating world of Broadway.

Allison Brinkley, mom, wife, and a formerly unflappable optimist learns that a carefully weighed choice to pack up her family and move from suburban Dallas to the glittery chaos of Manhattan might have been much more complicated than she and her husband had initially thought.

Allison also learns that New York is bewildering and unruly, defying all of the notions that she had developed from romantic movies and one memorable childhood visit. After getting one humiliating call from the principal’s office and the loss of this one job that she’d been counting on, she starts accepting that New York might not suit her after all.

She gets into a fender bender, which was witnessed by a group of moms at her son’s new school. She is led to the penthouse apartment of this luxurious Central Park West building and runs into a hungover, spoiled, and unsupervised teen that looks familiar. It doesn’t take her very long to recognize him as Carter Reid, this famous pop star that has just been cast in a Broadway musical. Through this short brush with stardom, she embraces an unexpected and unique opportunity that helps her find her way in the heart of Manhattan.

Delivering warmth, laughs, and delightful wish fulfillment, Amy dives into modern motherhood and celebrity culture with her trademark razor sharp and quick witted style.

“Musical Chairs” is the third stand alone novel and was released in 2020. A novel about a perfectly imperfect summer of secrets, second chances, and love.

Will and Bridget have the sort of relationship which people envy: they are compatible, loving, and totally devoted to one another. The fact that they are strictly friends seems to just get lost on just about everybody. For three decades now, they have nurtured their baby, a chamber group, the Forsyth Trio, they created as students with Gavin Glantz, their Juilliard classmate. During the intervening years, Gavin’s gone on to become one of the classical music world’s reigning stars, as Will and Bridget have learned to embrace the smaller venues and warm reviews which accompany modest success.

Bridget has been dreaming of spending the whole summer at her well worn Connecticut country home with Sterling, her boyfriend. However her plans get upended once Sterling breaks up with her through email, her elderly dad announces he’s getting married, and her twin twenty-somethings arrive unexpectedly.

She plans to host her father’s wedding on her ramshackle property, as she puts the Forsyth Trio back into the spotlight. However to catch the music world’s attention, she and Will place their bets on luring Gavin back, whom they have avoided since their stormy parting.