The Second Ending: A Novel

The Second Ending: A Novel

A former prodigy who refuses to believe her best years are behind her and a young virtuoso searching for his passion both get an unlikely shot at their dreams in this sparkling debut about second chances, unexpected joys, and the miraculous power of music. Prudence Childs was once the most famous kindergartner on the planet. After teaching herself to play piano at age three, she performed at the White House, appeared on talk shows, and inspired a generation to take up lessons. But as adolescence closed in, Prudence realized that she was being exploited and pushed into fame by her cruel grandmother, so she ran away. Broke and alone, she took a job writing commercial jingles, which earned her a fortune but left her creatively adrift. Now forty-eight, with her daughters away at school, Prudence agrees to compete on a wildly popular dueling pianos TV show to reconnect with her inner artist. Unfortunately, her new spotlight captures the attention of her terrible ex-husband, Bobby, who uses the opportunity to blackmail her over a long-buried secret. If she doesn’t win, she won’t just be a musical failure; she’ll also be bankrupt and exposed in front of millions. Her on-air rival, virtuoso Alexei Petrov, a young internet sensation with a massive audience and a dreamy Russian accent, has problems of his own. His demanding parents made him a technically flawless pianist but left him without friends, hobbies, or any kind of life outside his music. As they prepare to face off onstage, the retired prodigy and the exhausted wunderkind realize that the competition is their chance to prove to their bad exes, tyrannical family members, and, most important, themselves that it’s never too late to write a new ending. “The heartwarming, feel-good debut of the year.” —J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota “To say I loved it would be an understatement; this was quite unlike anything I’ve read. The one-liners had me laughing nearly every page, and I found it so moving.” —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary “Captivates the heart, right from the opening notes . . . thoroughly enjoyable, top-class entertainment.” —Sarah Haywood, New York Times bestselling author of The Cactus “Wild, witty, and bright. This is the novel for anyone who has ever wished they could reinvent their lives. I loved every page.” —Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters Michelle Hoffman is a former arts and entertainment writer for The Arizona Republic . She began formal piano lessons at the age of five and now lives in Arizona with her husband, two spoiled Shih Tzus, and a very large piano. CHAPTER ONE Prelude in E Minor There were no more children at home. No more overflowing laundry hampers. No more backpacks in the foyer. It was just the two of them. Three if you included Mrs. Wintour, which Prudence did. A week ago, Prudence and Stuart had dropped their youngest child off at a prestigious Midwest college with a clock tower, granite buildings, and stone statues. Their eldest was already attending a prestigious East Coast college with its own clock tower, granite buildings, and stone statues. Now that they were back home in the Southwest, back in the desert, Prudence wept at tiny boxes of raisins in the grocery store, reached for old bath toys in the closet. Catching a whiff of baby lotion was like being tugged into a time machine. The absence of her daughters unmoored her. She had not expected how much she would miss those beautiful creatures who could delight her one minute and aggrieve her the next. A child’s world, Prudence had discovered when her girls were young, is only as large as what is around them. Her daughters never cared about their mother’s storied childhood, how she’d played for two sitting presidents and had tea with Isaac Stern. They cared only that she could make mud pies and killer vegan tacos. Prudence gave her children everything she herself had been denied. She read them stories, taught them card games, and held them when they were sad. She nurtured them precisely so they would become independent adults. But the opposite had happened to Prudence along the way: She had grown dependent on them. Prudence had tried to be brave the day she and Stuart dropped Becca off at college, but as she looked around at the cinderblock dorm room, a terrible thought occurred to her. She would never see Becca again. “You okay, Mom?” “Promise me you’ll come back for Christmas and summer breaks?” “Only if you don’t turn my bedroom into a sewing room. Oh, wait, you already have one!” She hugged her mother. “Of course, I’ll come back home.” Out in the hallway, Prudence could hear new roommates chattering while moms and dads lugged boxes and suitcases up the stairwells. The cheerful chaos depressed her almost as much as the worn linoleum floors. How can they all be so happy? She had to stop herself from