Inspired by second chances

Tuesdays With Morrie author Mitch Albom wrote Twice as a love letter to his wife

- Shawn Hoo

Twice by Mitch Albom (left) runs at 320 pages, with short and snappy chapters.

(PHOTO: GLENN TRIEST)

Bestselling author Mitch Albom, who never had his own children, did not expect to be changing his adopted infant’s wet diapers in 2022. The 67-year-old, who recently sent his three-year-old daughter to school for the first time, now finds himself standing amid fathers half his age.

“I am the walking definition of a second chance,” the Tuesdays With Morrie (1997) author tells The Sunday Times on a call from his Detroit home.

His latest fantasy romance novel Twice - which arrived in Singapore bookstores in October - doles out life lessons he has gleaned about the allure of second chances, its promises and pitfalls.

Twice is another classic inspirational thought experiment from Albom. It follows Alfie Logan, a Philadelphia boy who has inherited a magical ability to undo moments in his life and redo them for a second time - with a few caveats about love that Alfie will have to learn to accept are beyond the bounds of his power.

Albom was inspired by peers who expressed the sentiment that their life might have turned out differently, if only. “As you get older, you look back on the way your life has unfolded. You spend more time thinking - what if I had done this instead of that, how would everything have changed? When you're younger, you don’t really see how one event turns the tide for your future because you're still experiencing your future - everything’s ahead of you.”