The Second Chance Store by Stylist, Refinery29, Telegraph, Sunday Times Style and Guardian contributor Lauren Bravo, is a tale of friendship, loss, and dusting yourself off and starting over—a novel filled with humor and a testament to the enduring power and joy of thrift shopping.
In The Second Chance,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 Gwen is 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.
Lauren Bravo is an author and award-winning freelance journalist who writes about fashion, popular culture, food, travel, and feminism. She is the author of What Would the Spice Girls Do?, How to Break Up with Fast Fashion—inspired by her year-long fast-fashion ban—and a contributor to the intersectional feminist essay collection This Is How We Come Back Stronger: Feminist Writers on Turning Crisis Into Change.
Lauren Bravo volunteers once a week at her local Crisis UK charity shop, which provided rich and bountiful inspiration for her debut novel. The Second Chance Store is perfect for fans of The Little Paris Bookshop. I appreciate you keeping this title in mind for your July review, roundup, and author interview schedule. Lauren is also interested in writing a guest post about all things stylish. An e-copy of the book can be accessed here and a physical copy is furnishable upon request.
If clothes can 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, and dusting yourself off and starting over—a novel filled with humor and a testament to the enduring power and joy of second hand stores.
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