Better Luck Next Time, Julia Claiborne Johnson

"Do you want to read something funny? Let''s say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s? A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex? A feel-good literary comedy/western? Here it is, then, the book you''ve been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson''s Better Luck Next Time.

"--Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement The eagerly anticipated second novel from the bestselling author of Be Frank with Me, a charming story of endings, new beginnings, and the complexities and complications of friendship and love, set in late 1930s Reno. It''s 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the "divorce capital of the world," Reno, Nevada. There''s one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become "residents.

" Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need. Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he''s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks--"Cary Grant in cowboy boots"--Ward thinks he''s got the Flying Leap''s clients all figured out.