The Second Ending

A Novel

By: Michelle Hoffman

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

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.

©2023 Michelle Hoffman (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“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

Inspiring

Inspiring story of running from and chasing down lost dreams. Told in a way that leaves you cheering for the heros and the villains to the very end.

Great read

Very enjoyable. Great twists and turns and real feelings you can relate to! It also had some good humor in it which made it a really nice book to enjoy for our book club.

inspirational and entertaining

Enjoyed immensely. Loved the theme of two pianists with different backgrounds competing against each other.

Fascinating Characters

Strong, flawed and lovable characters, each with an ingenuous story. The “second ending” for each character was perfect.

A greatly entertaining novel

This is a page turner. Humorous and enjoyable with drama and suspense. It also created a new appreciation for music.

Great story!

Enjoyed this immensely… the two lives and personalities were woven together skillfully and the narrator did a wonderful job…

Fun story with too much cheese

I enjoy 90% of my books through audible but this one probably would have been better enjoyed as a physical read. The voice distracted from the story and sometimes unintentionally overlapped, not allowing a differentiation between characters. Overall, it was entertaining as a silly, light, story but not one I’d necessarily recommend. The author tried to tie deep emotional feelings and serious moments with a much too far fetched and cheesy antagonist, in my opinion. With that said, it’s easy to throw tomatoes from the cheap seats, so until I publish my own novel, who am I to criticize!