At Staff Picks Press, Susan Taylor, Melissa Mykal Batalin, Susan Petrie, and Carolyn Wavrin were of enormous help. And the comments of one early reader of the manuscript, Marlene Adelstein, were invaluable.

My family and friends have also been of immeasurable assistance: my sister and brother-in-law, Frann and Eric Francis; my niece, Meredith Francis; and my sister-in-law, Mary Beth Grover. For many years, my friends Tracy Richard and Bruce Davis, Carol and Joe Siracusa, Ellen and Jeff Lewis, Howard Dickson, Howard Sperber, and James Howard Kunstler have provided much kindness and laughter. And I’d like to send a heartfelt thanks to those of you who generously contributed your share to this book—Charles Oransky, Richard Kinley, Darron Leddick, Janet Heinle, Jeanne-Marie Crockett, Jenny Milchman, Meta Weinkrantz Berk, Mark Cudworth, Mary Ellen O’Neil Davis, Dr. Jennifer Shaw, and Dr. Sharon Samuels.

I appreciate all of you who have been in touch on the web. For those of you who haven’t found me yet—on Facebook, I can be reached via Author Peter Golden; on Twitter, it’s pagolden32; and my website is petergolden.com.

Finally, I’d like to thank the two people who sit at the center of my life and work: my son, Ben, and my wife, Annis.

COMEBACK LOVE

Peter Golden

A Readers Club Guide

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What do you think Comeback Love is saying about first loves, and about long-term commitments? Is love all about timing?

2. Glenna is actively and successfully pursuing a respected career, while Gordon is somewhat fumbling his way through his education and pursuing his own professional dream. How much does this influence their dynamic?

3. What did you make of Gordon’s relationship with his father? How do you think their bond affected Gordon’s relationship with his own son, Alex?

4. Gordon’s mother says, “‘I don’t dislike Glenna, but I love you, and she’s a girl like your sister, and they … they hurt men.’” Do you think that, ultimately, Glenna hurts Gordon—or do they mutually hurt each other?

5. What precisely does Gordon’s mother mean when she says that Glenna is a girl like Elaine? How would you describe Gordon’s relationship with his sister? Does he ever come to see the similarities that his mother sees?

6. Describing his relationships since Glenna, Gordon admits, “‘I never trusted enough to feel that way about anyone else.’” Do you feel that this is something that always happens after first love, or was their relationship uniquely transformative?

7. How would you describe the marriage between Glenna’s parents? How does it compare to the one Gordon’s parents share? Do you think their respective models of relationships impact how Glenna and Gordon’s own romance evolves?

8. “[It] would be some time before I understood that this was precisely the problem, the beginning of our end, that Glenna loved me. So much.” Do you agree with Gordon’s assessment that this moment signified an unraveling? And why is Glenna’s love for Gordon the problem?