Pleased to welcome Amy Blumenfeld to the Spotlight this week, who is here to chat about her latest novel
Author Name: Amy Blumenfeld
Book Title: Such Good People
Book Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Spark Press
Welcome, Amy! How would you describe Such Good People ?
Such Good People is about the things we do for the people we love and how the people we love impact the things we do. It’s centers on the ripple effect of a split-second decision and how that singular moment changed lives and legacies forever.
What’s your favorite part about writing/being an author? What do you find challenging?
I love developing the characters. I enjoy thinking about their personalities, their quirks, backstories, likes/dislikes, style, voice, and temperament and then watching them come to life on the page. Sometimes I’ll plot out a scene with bullet points on a memo pad, but once I start typing out the dialogue between the characters on my computer, things change. The characters guide me instead of me directing them. And I think it’s at that point – when they develop voices and feel real to me – that I really love working on the book and being an author.
Without a doubt, the most challenging part for me is the promotion. Yes, it’s part of the job, but as a fairly quiet and private person, it definitely takes me out of my comfort zone.
What sparked the idea for this book?
I was raised in a home where a painting of the scales of justice and the words “Justice, Justice, Shall You Pursue” were prominently framed on our living room wall. My father began his career as a public defender and when I was young his colleagues would come over to our house and I’d listen as they prepared their cases around our dining room table. Later, when he became a judge, I’d sit beside my dad on the bench and observe arraignments from his vantage point. I learned to appreciate nuance, the complexity of situations, and understand that behind every docket number was a real human being. Most of the time, that human being had relatives and friends sitting on hard pews in the audience section awaiting their loved one’s case. It didn’t matter if they were on the side of the defense or prosecution. Their angst-riddled faces were directly in my line of sight and I couldn’t help but wonder about their lives. Their backstories. How being on the periphery of a criminal case impacted them.
After my debut novel, The Cast, was published, I knew I wanted to write another book with childhood friendship at the heart but somehow related to the criminal justice system. The problem was, I had no idea what that story would be. Then one day, a newsletter arrived in the mail from an organization that helps formerly incarcerated people reenter society. The issue ran profiles of teachers working for the organization and I was fascinated by their stories. Some had their own personal experiences behind bars and were inspired to make a difference after prison by becoming educators. Those teacher profiles helped inspire my main character, April. I knew April would be a teacher deeply motivated to help with the reentry process…but why? Figuring out the “why” was how I created Rudy, April’s best friend from childhood. I decided Rudy would be an incredible person who made a questionable split-second decision while trying to help April. He paid a price. She paid a price too. And it all snowballed from there.
The whole time I was writing I had my dad’s courtroom on my mind – specifically the people in my line of sight in the pews during arraignments. I envisioned April and Rudy’s families and how a single choice by a good person thinking he was doing a good thing could spiral out of control and change all of them forever.
What drew you to writing contemporary women’s fiction?
I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an author. I dreamed of becoming a television news anchorwoman. I went to graduate school for journalism but eventually figured out that I was better suited for print instead of broadcast work. When I wrote my masters project (essentially a long magazine article) about adult survivors of childhood cancer, my professor approached me at graduation and insisted that I turn the project into a book. He didn’t say what kind of book, but he planted a seed. For many years as I worked as a writer or editor in the magazine world, I chipped away at “the book” during my free time never knowing if it would become anything. Initially, I envisioned non-fiction but it wasn’t coming together. Eventually, I realized I would never read a “cancer book” so I why would I write one and expect others to buy it? I asked myself, “What would I want to read?” and the answer was clear – contemporary fiction. That was when it all clicked into place: I would write the kind of novel I would pick off a bookshelf. I had no experience with fiction, but I always enjoyed creative writing so I figured I would give it a shot and I’m so glad I did.
Where can readers find you?
- amyblumenfeld.com
- Instagram: amyblumenfeldauthor
- Facebook: amyblumenfeldauthor
- Books are available for sale online or at your local bookstore.
Such Good People has been named…
A People magazine’s Most Anticipated Summer Reads 2025
A Forbes magazine’s Best Books For Summer
A She Knows’ New Book We Can’t Wait to Read in Summer 2025
A Zibby’s Most Anticipated Read of 2025
A Brit + Co. Most Anticipated Summer Book of 2025
A She Reads’ Most Anticipated Contemporary Books of Summer 2025
Thank you, Amy! Such Good People is out on July 8 and available for pre-order.
Such Good People
It’s 10 p.m. on a Thursday in the spring of her freshman year of college, and April is standing at the back of a crowded Manhattan bar waiting for her friend, Rudy, to arrive. Their eyes lock the moment he walks into the room, and in an instant, lives and legacies are altered forever.
Within hours, Rudy is arrested. Within days, April is expelled. Within weeks, Rudy is incarcerated. And within months, April meets Peter, a prodigious young attorney who makes her world recognizable again.
Years later, April is married to Peter and happily living in Chicago, a mother of three with a fulfilling career and standing yoga date with her girlfriends. But on the eve of Peter’s election for local office, Rudy is up for parole – and headlines explode about April’s past, jeopardizing Peter’s campaign and everything they hold dear. Suddenly, April is faced with an impossible choice: Protect the life she created, or the person who sacrificed everything to make that life a possibility?
Such Good People is a captivating portrait of blurred lines, divided loyalties, and what it means to love purely, steadfastly, and endlessly.
Author Bio:
Amy Blumenfeld is an award-winning author and journalist. She is a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University and received a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. Her articles and essays have appeared in various publications including the New York Times, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, as well on the cover of People. Amy’s debut novel, The Cast, was selected as a New York Post Best Book of the Week. She has contributed to three non-fiction books, including a USA TODAY bestselling anthology. Amy lives in New York with her husband and daughter. Such Good People is her second novel.