In Forty Love, seasoned British author Jane Costello serves up a fun, flirty rom-com about a middle-aged widow who reinvents herself--and her life--through the game of tennis.
An impending empty nest syndrome sets the story in motion for Jules, a 47-year-old widow and single mother from Liverpool, England. As a hard-working businesswoman, a buyer for a chain of “lifestyle stores,” Jules suddenly finds herself alone after her 18-year-old daughter, Frankie--multi-racial; “long-legged and beautiful by anyone’s definition”--flies the coop for a vacation before she sets off for Performing Arts College.
With Frankie’s departure, panic sets in for Jules, who has time on her hands and perimenopause with which to contend. On a lark, Jules joins a nearby tennis club. This once exercise-averse, tennis neophyte suddenly becomes so swept up in the game that she’s recruited for the “Rusty Racquets” team where she’s befriended by a colorful cast of other amateur players. Along the way, she crosses paths with Sam Delaney, a handsome doctor who joins the club upon his return to England after spending decades in the States. Thirty years prior, Jules had a major crush on Sam. Can a once-unrequited love rally toward newfound romance?
Costello (It’s Getting Hot in Here; You, Me,Everything – writing as Catherine Isaac) covers all the angles and aces this hopeful, lively mid-life romantic comedy where unforced errors amidst the prospect of love add clever top-spin to this winning, second-chance love story.
Zibby Publishing, $17.99 paperback, 9798992427684, 284 pages
Publishing Date: May 19, 2026
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