April Liesgang and Caleb Shannon have known each other for just three short months, so their Valentine's Day wedding at a chapel near the shores of Lake Michigan has both families -- hers from Wisconsin, his from Tennessee -- in an uproar. As the festivities unfold (and the cash bar opens), everyone has an opinion and a lively prediction about April and Caleb's union -- each the reflection of a different marital experience. Meanwhile, at the nearby Hideaway Lodge, a domestic quarrel ends in tragedy. As April and Caleb's life together begins full of promise, death parts another man and woman in angry violence; as the two stories gradually intersect, their juxtaposition explores the tangled roots of vulnerability and desire. By the time the last polka has been danced and the bouquet tossed, Midnight Champagne has cast an extraordinary, haunting spell. From its opening epigraph from Chekhov -- "If you fear loneliness, then marriage is not for you" -- to its final moments in the honeymoon suite, this wonderful novel weaves tenderness and fury, longing and betrayal into a startling, fresh tapestry of love in all its paradox and power.

ISBN: 9780380729753