Chick Singer

A would-be frontwoman gets a later-in-life shot at stardom in Wilke’s novel.

Back in the 1980s, teenage Libby Conlin was the lead singer of the Los Angeles rock band Liberty, who could have been the next big thing if Libby hadn’t gotten pregnant before they could secure a major label deal. Now, she works as the bookkeeper for a shop in Hollywood; she’s a single empty-nester since her youngest went off to college. The nest does not remain empty for long: Her semi-estranged 35-year-old daughter Bridget—the one whose birth interrupted Libby’s music career—arrives out of the blue one day at Libby’s Beachwood Canyon home, newly divorced and in need of a place to stay. Libby invites her in, hoping this might prove an opportunity to repair their strained relationship. Both women decide to go back to school—Libby aims to become a full-fledged CPA, and Bridget intends to pursue an old, abandoned interest in filmmaking. As part of a documentary project, Bridget ends up uploading some of Libby’s old Liberty demos to the internet—and the internet responds. With industry interest bubbling, Libby may finally have a shot at the stardom she never achieved in her youth, and Bridget may have the chance to assuage the guilt she feels for derailing her mother’s career. But will this opportunity finally bring them together—or tear them apart for good? Wilke’s prose is chatty and fluid, pulling the reader along with Libby and Bridget as they dip their toes back into the waters of art and romance. Though the two leads are in different places in life, they both feel too old to be where they are, which adds a compelling twist to the mother-daughter dynamic. (“Please don’t revert to being a teenager, Bridget,” Libby scolds her daughter at one point. “We already did that bit, and we’re both too old for a replay.”) The music industry material and Los Angeles setting add fun color, but readers will most appreciate the attention Wilke pays to her characters’ inner lives.

A finely crafted novel about sidelined dreams and second chances.