A Forty Year Kiss is a second chance love story about Charlie and Vivian, a couple in their sixties who were married for only four years in their twenties. After many years of being single, Charlie has returned to the small town in Wisconsin where he and Vivian once lived, in order to win her back. Vivian has had trials of her own since their brief marriage, and she is reluctant to trust the man who once abandoned her. Thus kicks off a slow dance between these two flawed but compelling characters who each carry secrets, burdens and shame, but also hope and openness to what might lie ahead. I loved Butler’s simple, precise writing, which says so much without saying much at all. If you like Kent Haruf, especially Our Souls At Night, then this one is for you. It doesn’t come out until February 2025 – now that I am a bookseller, I have to read ahead! – but keep this one on your radar. It’s a slow, satisfying burn.