A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over

Advance praise for A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over “Gabi Coatsworth’s debut novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over, tenderly explores grief, self-discovery, and reinvention in middle life. Readers will cheer for Molly as she learns that standing on one’s own often requires getting comfortable with leaning on others. The heartwarming, hopeful tale is also a gentle reminder that it’s possible to fall in love more than once in a lifetime.” — Jamie Beck, Wall Street Journal bestselling author “To start over, Molly Stevenson, a widow, mother, and owner of a bookstore, must let go. Not an easy task for a 50-year-old woman whose dead husband Simon is speaking to her from the grave—providing business advice and telling her who to date. Anyone who has had to begin again, to strike out on her own, make a new life and new friends, will relate to this debut novel... Gabi has been there and has an inspiring story with a happy ending to tell.” — Marilyn Simon Rothstein, author of Crazy to Leave You “A warm, engaging novel about love, friendship, and starting over, with a protagonist you will root for from the very first page! Molly is resilient, honest, and complex—in short, everything you could ask for in a protagonist. This is a book about second-chance love and so much more, written by an author who knows how to tell a story. Lovely!” — Barbara Josselsohn, author of The Lilac House and The Cranberry Inn “Unforgettable and nuanced, Gabi Coatsworth delivers a heartwarming novel about the risks we must take to have a second chance. This is a book begging to be read cozied up in a chair, a fireplace blazing, and a cuppa tea in your hand. Prepare to sit a spell—Molly’s stumbling journey to embrace the future will keep you soaring through the pages and by the end, Molly will feel like a much-loved old friend.” — Carla Damron, author of The Orchid Tattoo and The Stone Necklace “A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over follows the delightful journey of Molly Stevenson and her loyalty to a former love, while confronting the challenge of striking out on her own, and opening her heart to a new relationship. You will fall in love with the characters. A heartfelt read.” — Lita Harris, author of Christmas in Brookside Falls “Gabi Coatsworth absolutely nails the emotional journey of a middle-aged woman faced with losing a love and starting over. Her humorous and uplifting style makes this a delightful read.” — Marie W. Watts, author of Only a Pawn “…Readers will eagerly root for the highly relatable Molly Stevenson as she navigates unchartered waters later in life and allows herself to be open to love again…” — BookLife A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over a novel Gabi Coatsworth atmosphere press © 2023 Gabi Coatsworth Published by Atmosphere Press ISBN 978-1-63988-754-5 Cover design by Felipe Betim No part of this book may be reproduced without permission from the author except in brief quotations and in reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted work is illegal and punishable by law. For permission requests, please contact Atmosphere Press at 7107 Foxtree Cove, Austin, TX 78750. All company or product names may be trade names, logos, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks and are the property of their respective owners. Names and identifying characteristics of certain individuals have been changed to protect their privacy. Atmospherepress.com For Madelyn and Charlotte, who started bragging that I was a writer while they were in elementary school CHAPTER ONE Molly Stevenson looked around the Book Boutique at the end of another long day before switching off the lights and locking the front door. She loved this place, with its smell of paper, its loyal customers, and its solid presence on Brentford’s Main Street. Simon’s support for her taking it on had been the deciding factor, and the shop had turned out to be a welcome respite from the grief she felt. But it was still losing money. She hadn’t managed to pay herself for the last two months and was living off her savings. The upcoming Christmas season needed to produce its annual increase in sales, or the business would go under, leaving her in debt she had no way of repaying. And the town would lose its only bookstore, which would be a crime. She wouldn’t think about that. She stuffed the day’s mail and the letter she still hadn’t opened into her messenger bag, and started for home. Darkness had fallen sometime before she reached her front door. She took out the key and turned it in the lock. Returning to the unlit, empty Victorian often seemed like the most daunting part of losing Simon. It made Molly feel like an actual widow—something she managed to avoid thinking about as she kept busy at the bookshop during the day. That evening, as if summoned by the rasp of the latchkey, an orange missile came hurtling up the porch steps, and Hemingway stood there, demanding to be let in. “Hello, you,” she murmured. A loud rumble came from somewhere near her feet. As she swung the door open, the cat swaggered into the house ahead of her and made for the kitchen. She followed him, shrugged off her coat, and threw it onto one of the barstools, where it promptly slid off. She should hang it up in the closet when she came in. “Come on, Molly—you can do better than this,” she said aloud. Was that really her voice? Now and then, she reminded herself of her mother with her relentless—though well-meant—advice. Mummy would have told her to deal with that bloody letter from her landlord immediately. Opening the refrigerator door instead, she groaned at the sight of the tired onion, a slightly wrinkled zucchini, and a large eggplant staring back at her from the middle shelf. The idea was that they’d be in her line of vision, so she’d remember to use them, but the plan had failed. She