An original, witty, compulsively readable tale for any woman who has struggled with creative yearning and duty to the daily grind. In her absorbing debut novel, Sheehan's depiction of the working girl's life in the big city is as charming as it is inspiring. Single, not yet thirty, and devoted companion to her dignified cat, Fruit Bat, Winona Bartlett is a secretary at a New York City law firm. Though she finds a certain security in the rituals of her demandingly undemanding job, Winona's real ambition is to be a filmmaker. And her romantic life is a mess. When a new lawyer — a blind woman named Sandy Spires — joins the firm and challenges Winona to trust her own creative ideas, Winona is encouraged to try to be more than just a "non-filmmaking filmmaker." But it eventually becomes clear that the enigmatic Sandy isn't who she said she is. After her real motives are uncovered, Winona begins to understand what it means to take risks in life and in love.

"Deliciously wacky debut novel....Hilarious, sly, sharply observed, and one of a kind — more, please." Kirkus Reviews

"A quirky, introspective novel about a creative woman finding her footing in a very corporate world." Booklist

"Sheehan's self-consciously choppy prose and whimsical asides give the novel a halting rhythm, but readers who persevere will find the surprise ending tartly satisfying." Publishers Weekly

"[A] high-spirited, entertaining, and thoroughly satisfying novel." Library Journal

The Great American Secretary's novel meets The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman in this very savvy and funny novel about a young working girl's life and the fear of life without creative fulfillment. Author Aurelie wrote the novel at a coffee shop on a series of lunch hours.