Nickolas Butler

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Andrea Paulseth

Nickolas Butler sitting against a stone wall.

Nickolas Butler

In A Forty Year Kiss, the fifth novel by Nickolas Butler, the Eau Claire-raised author rekindles his affinity for small-town Wisconsin settings — which were so integral to previous novels like the 2015 bestseller Shotgun Lovesongs and 2019’s Little Faith. Charlie and Vivian divorced after just four years of marriage, but then Charlie returns to Wisconsin 40 years later and attempts to reconnect with Vivian and pick up the broken pieces. The result is being billed as the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your book-loving sweetheart. This event is part of the ongoing Wisconsin Book Festival and will feature Butler in conversation with Wisconsin Book Festival ambassador and fellow author Laura Anne Bird.

media release: From the critically acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs comes an exquisitely written, small-town story about one couple's hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce.

Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing — he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. 

But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets. A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It's a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.

In conversation with Laura Bird.