Synopses & Reviews
A novel about memory, family, and Southern cooking set in Shiver-de-Freeze, where friends and family have gathered for a wedding. But groom Grisham Loudermilk, in one last fling of bachelorhood, puts it all in jeopardy chasing the free-spirited Miranda.Welcome to Shiver-de-Freeze, a boot-shaped precinct deep in the Louisiana swamp, famous for its healing waters and curious fauna. Grisham Loudermilk is marrying Ariane Thevenot at Paradise, the family's ancestral home, and we're here for the wedding. But reason and love, it would seem, keep little company in Paradise these days: Grisham's cousin Adlai Birdsong has fallen desperately in love with the bride-to-be. Adlai's ill-advised courtship proceeds even as his daddy, Royce, struggles to recall his past in the face of Alzheimer's; as Father Pat McDermott realizes his passion for the mother of the bride; as the conjoined twins, Tous-les-Deux, train their eyes on Boudou Fontana, the last of the star-crossed Fontana clan. And just when it seems that Adlai must resign himself to a prolonged season of bachelorhood, Miranda Ferry, Grisham's recent lover, wanders into town unawares. With his signature tragic-comic voice and cast of unforgettable and lively characters, Dufresne explores love, death, imagination, and memory.
Review
"An achievement of the first order by an author of the first rank." Houston Chronicle
Review
"The spirit of this book is so big-hearted its nearly impossible for readers not to get swept along." The Boston Globe
Review
"Tuneful, playful...[with] some amazingly delicate moments of truth and farewell" The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
With his signature tragic-comic voice and cast of unforgettable and lively characters, DuFresne explores love, death, imagination, and memory.
About the Author
John Dufresne's works of fiction include Louisiana PowerandLight, Love Warps the Mind a Little, Deep in the Shade of Paradise, and Johnny Too Bad. He is also the author of a book on fiction writing: The Lie That Tells a Truth. He lives in Dania Beach, Florida.