The Second Chance Store

If clothes get a second chance, why can’t we? Brimming with life, love, and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, The Second Chance Store is a tale of friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations—a novel filled with humor and a testament to the enduring power and joy of charity shops. Perfect for fans of The Little Paris Bookshop.

City-dweller Gwen is living a second-hand life. She’s thirty-eight, perpetually single, and in dire need of a dentist appointment. Her friends are busy procreating in the country, and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around hedge borders and the trash pick-up schedule. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone? 

When she’s let go from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realizes it’s time to make a change, starting with cleaning out her apartment. In the charity shop where she literally and metaphorically unloads her baggage, Gwen discovers a group of weird and wonderful people devoted to finding a new home for donated items that have lost their use elsewhere. Gwen volunteers herself—and finds a new joy in the untold stories of second-hand things.

Ultimately Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity—and more regular dental care.