The Second Ending

PRAISE FOR The Second Ending“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“An empathetic powerhouse, with a plot that will keep you hooked until the last page, The Second Ending is the heartwarming, feel-good debut of the year.”—J. RYAN STRADAL, New York Times bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota“Like a sparklingly fresh interpretation of a classic tune, The Second Ending’s story of reuniting with your true self never ceases to captivate the heart, right from the opening notes. Prudence Childs and Alexei Petrov are wonderfully offbeat characters, and I relished both the melodies of their paths to musical epiphany as well as the dramatic accompaniment provided by the vivid cast of characters. The Second Ending is thoroughly enjoyable, top-class entertainment —just like one of Prudence and Alexei’s performances.”—SARAH HAYWOOD, New York Times bestselling author of The Cactus“The Second Ending is wild, witty, and bright. This is the novel for anyone who has ever wished they could play a 1952 Steinway Model M, abscond to a getaway motel room (with soaking tub), or completely reinvent their lives. I loved every page and even paused between chapters to play the songs lovingly written about by Michelle Hoffman in her glittering debut.”—AMANDA EYRE WARD, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters“I loved The Second Ending. The descriptions of music are just fabulous, and the ending is delightful. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything I enjoyed this much.”—JACKIE FRASER, author of The Bookshop of Second Chances The Second Ending is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.Copyright © 2023 by Michelle HoffmanAll rights reserved.Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.BALLANTINE is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNames: Hoffman, Michelle, author.Title: The second ending: a novel / Michelle Hoffman.Description: First edition | New York: Ballantine Group [2023]Identifiers: LCCN 2022037022 (print) | LCCN 2022037023 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593599136 (paperback) | ISBN 9780593599143 (ebook)Barnes & Noble edition ISBN 9780593724941Subjects: LCGFT: Novels.Classification: LCC PS3608.O4783 S43 2023 (print) | LCC PS3608.O4783 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20220824LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022037022LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022037023Ebook ISBN 9780593599143randomhousebooks.comTitle-page image: yosuke14 / stock.adobe.comBook design by Victoria Wong, adapted for ebookCover design: Sarah Horganep_prh_6.1_143668240_c0_r0 ContentsCoverTitle PageCopyrightEpigraphChapter One: Prelude in E MinorChapter Two: The Cover of Rolling StoneChapter Three: Sleeping BeautyChapter Four: Damn, I Wish I Was Your LoverChapter Five: BattagliaChapter Six: Una FantasiaChapter Seven: YesterdayChapter Eight: Summer of LoveChapter Nine: Tiny DancerChapter Ten: Flight of the BumblebeeChapter Eleven: Entr’acteChapter Twelve: Ode to JoyChapter Thirteen: Stayin’ AliveChapter Fourteen: Birth, School, Work, DeathChapter Fifteen: LaylaChapter Sixteen: What’s New, Pussycat?Chapter Seventeen: La Folle JournéeChapter Eighteen: It’s Only Rock and RollChapter Nineteen: Tempo Di MezzoChapter Twenty: Bel CantoChapter Twenty-one: Wrecking BallChapter Twenty-two: Great Balls of FireChapter Twenty-three: Piano ManChapter Twenty-four: Hello, I Love You Won’t You Tell Me Your Name?Chapter Twenty-five: The Rite of SpringChapter Twenty-six: Comptine d’un Autre Été, l’Après-MidiChapter Twenty-seven: The Impossible DreamChapter Twenty-eight: Classical GasChapter Twenty-nine: Next to You (Outlandos d’amour)Chapter Thirty: Peter and the WolfChapter Thirty-one: Heard It in a Love SongChapter Thirty-two: A Taste of HoneyChapter Thirty-three: Linus and LucyChapter Thirty-four: Runnin’ Down a DreamChapter Thirty-five: TraümereiChapter Thirty-six: Train in VainChapter Thirty-seven: My Ever-Changing MoodsChapter Thirty-eight: Crocodile RockChapter Thirty-nine: The EntertainerChapter Forty: Once Upon a DreamChapter Forty-one: Fantasia in D MinorChapter Forty-two: In Through the Out DoorChapter Forty-three: Baby Elephant WalkChapter Forty-four: Moon RiverChapter Forty-five: CharadeChapter Forty-six: Someone Like YouChapter Forty-seven: SurrenderChapter Forty-eight: La Donna è MobileChapter Forty-nine: Scenes from ChildhoodChapter Fifty: The MatadorChapter Fifty-one: I Got the Music in MeChapter Fifty-two: You Ain’t Seen Nothing YetChapter Fifty-three: Are You Experienced?Chapter Fifty-four: The Morning AfterChapter Fifty-five: I Can See Clearly NowChapter Fifty-six: Dear PrudenceDedicationAcknowledgmentsAbout the Author_143668240_ The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music. They should be taught to love it instead.—IGOR STRAVINSKY CHAPTER ONEPrelude 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