A Fireproof Home for the Bride

Scheibe's fantastic sophomore effort (after What Do You Do All Day?) explores the coming of age of a young Minnesota woman in the late 1950s. Eighteen-year-old Emmy Nelson lives with her joyless, domineering mother, Karin, and feels resigned to her fate of becoming a farm wife. She's known her betrothed, Ambrose Brann, all her life, but lately he's been hostile and abusive. After glimpsing the possibility of a happier life with the help of her best friend, Bev Langer, and her high school guidance counselor, Mr. Utke, Emmy breaks off her engagement and begins seeing Bobby Doyle, a Catholic boy with big dreams. Meanwhile, Ambrose falls under the spell of bigoted family friend Curtis Davidson, whose fear-mongering politics scapegoat the area's Mexican immigrants. As she grows into a cub reporter job, Emmy discovers that the politics might tie into a family secret. Emmy is used to mystery when it comes to her relatives: something big caused her grandmother's estrangement from Emmy's great-aunt. Scheibe's multilayered plot feels organic: the strands are knitted into a tight story of substance that touches on the politics of race, class, and gender without coming off as too preachy. There are a few small flaws: Emmy, for instance, seems awfully progressive for someone who has known nothing but her dour, religious family, and influential bestie Bev abruptly drops out of the story, but overall, the book is spectacular. (Mar.)