Sylvia’s Second Act

Description

Her husband’s cheating on her. She hates Boca. Sylvia is mad and she isn’t going to take it anymore. She’s moving back north, to the city of her dreams—with her best friend, Evie, in tow. Think a screwball comedy featuring a sophisticated Thelma and Louise with martinis in hand . . .

When sixty-three-year-old Sylvia finds her husband in bed with the floozy of their Boca retirement community, she’s shocked and furious . . . at first. By the time her head stops spinning, Sylvia realizes that actually, this isn’t what she wants anymore anyway.

So she enlists her best friend, the glamorous older widow Evie, to join her in setting up a new life in Manhattan. Sylvia’s ex-husband may have lost her life savings, but Sylvia and Evie are scrappy and determined, unopposed to pawning jewelry and roughing it in tiny apartments. And before long, Sylvia signs on to revive her decades-old wedding planning business with a former professional rival. Sylvia has a lot to prove, and beneath it all, she can’t help but wonder: Will she ever be able to get back into the dating game?

Sylvia doesn’t want to be twenty-five or thirty again. Her age gives her wisdom, experience, and perspective. A career, sex, fun, and a new romance—her entire second act is stretched out in front of her, beckoning to her. It’s her time, and watch out, world, Sylvia is coming!Praise for Sylvia’s Second Act:

“Yablon’s debut is mostly gentle screwball comedy, with a bit of gravitas. . . A little sex, a lotta laughs in the city.”
—Kirkus

“[A] delightful debut. . . It’s impossible not to cheer for the strong heroine at the center of Yablon’s savvy story.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A satisfying reminder that it’s never too late to start over.”
—Booklist

“A first-rate novel of second chances that will have you laughing right from the start. Sylvia will show you that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself, especially if you have a good friend by your side and a cosmopolitan in hand.”
—Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants

“Sixty-something Sylvia Fisher’s life needs a make-over. She’s sick of retirement life in Boca Raton AND her cheating husband. Novelist Hillary Yablon gives readers hungry for a midlife romance a fizzy, delicious story we didn’t know we needed. Take a bow, Sylvia, cause readers are gonna give this laugh-out-loud female buddy story made in Manhattan a standing ovation.”
—Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Homewreckers

“Sylvia’s story hit all of my favorite notes – laugh out loud funny, action packed and ultimately redemptive. It’s a love song to women of a certain age, and I’ll be humming it for years to come.”
—Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer

“A gem! Every page of this book is a delight.”
—KJ Dell’Antonia, New York Times bestselling author of The Chicken Sisters

“I’m ready to audition real-life candidates for the Sylvia to my Evie (or the Evie to my Sylvia)… These two are living the dream and getting up to exactly the level of post-retirement fun I want to have one day. Pure delight!”
—Mary Laura Philpott, bestselling author of Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

“This sexagenarian-in-the-city tale is brimming with warmth, energy and humour. Its irrepressible heroine implores you to never give up on friendship, never give up on love but most importantly never give up on yourself. Will put a twinkle in your eye and a spring in your step. Fabulous fun!”
—Veronica Henry, bestselling author of How to Find Love in a Bookshop

“This is the book that every woman deserves! A fun, fierce mature woman and her equally awesome best friend taking on the big city and pulling off glamorous weddings? Yes please. I am going to need an entire series about the adventures of Sylvia and Evie!”
—Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for MurderHillary Yablon lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young sons. She is a graduate of Princeton University and earned her MA in poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. This, her debut novel, received the Allegra Johnson Prize at UCLA.QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS…

1. If you had the chance to plan your own second act, what would you do? Who would you bring along, the way Sylvia brought Evie? What’s holding you back from taking a new adventure?
 
2. For most of the book, Izzy discourages Sylvia’s attempt to reinvent herself. Finally, Sylvia fights back: “How dare you even consider having an opinion on my life? . . . I understand it’s hard when one’s parent changes gears. It probably feels very uncomfortable for you. . . . But I have learned something—I am responsible for my own happiness” (243). Have you ever wanted to change, but faced discouragement from loved ones? Have you ever felt uncomfortable with the ways in which a friend or family member was changing?
 
3.  From her Eileen Fisher jacket, to lingerie, to the good-luck Armani shirtdress, Sylvia’s outfit choices mean a lot to her. Can your outfit change your mood? What do you wear when you want to feel powerful?
 
4. Wanting to make things better for her friend, Sylvia tricks Evie’s grandson and daughter-in-law into getting back in touch with Evie. What did you think of Sylvia’s decision to interfere with Evie’s family?
 
5. Even though Ashton is Sylvia’s client, they quickly become close, developing a quasi–mother-daughter relationship. How is Sylvia’s dynamic with Ashton different from her interactions with Izzy?
 
6. On their first date, Frank asks Sylvia, “Why do we always end up saying the things that most people keep in their heads?” Flirtatiously, Sylvia replies, “Surely it’s a good thing. For once, we can say what we really think and not worry about it” (219). Sylvia and Frank reveal things to each other that some people might find embarrassing or too vulnerable. Do you think unfiltered communication is a good idea in relationships, especially romantic ones? Is it better to keep some things to yourself on occasion?
 
7. Frank claims that he betrayed Sylvia because he knew he loved her more than she loved him. Do you think that’s an acceptable excuse?
 
8. Sylvia doesn’t want to be younger. She uses her age and experience to her advantage in many ways, the way she and Evie endear themselves to apartment brokers by saying that their older age makes them better tenants. Is there anything you miss about being younger? What are some advantages of your age? How might you use those advantages to achieve something you want?US

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