A short life of the author
Amy Michael Homes (b. 18 December 1961) was born in Washington, D.C. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She teaches at Princeton University.
Life and Career
Jack (1989) — her debut, about a teenager whose father comes out as gay — was controversial at the time. The Safety of Objects (1990) — a story collection about suburban dysfunction — established her distinctive territory.
The End of Alice (1996) — narrated by an imprisoned pedophile — was her most controversial novel: brilliant, disturbing, and deliberately challenging. Music for Torching (1999) — about a suburban couple who set their house on fire and watch it burn — is a pitch-black comedy of American domestic life.
May We Be Forgiven (2012) — about a Nixon scholar whose brother murders his wife, triggering a chain of catastrophic events — won the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Major Works and Themes
Homes writes about the American suburb as a site of repressed violence, sexual anxiety, and moral collapse. Her tone is flat, precise, and darkly comic — she describes appalling behaviour with the matter-of-factness of a clinical report.
Key Works
- The End of Alice (1996)
- Music for Torching (1999)
- May We Be Forgiven (2012) — Women’s Prize
Collecting Homes
Jack (1989, Macmillan) — the debut — brings $20–$60. The End of Alice (1996, Scribner) brings $15–$40. Homes signs at events.