Nickolas Butler reads from his latest novel, “A Forty Year Kiss” in front of a packed Riverview Room crowd on January 3, 2025.
Jayson Coleman
Nickolas Butler’s inspiration for stories can come from places as mundane as the dark corner of a Chippewa Falls bar. Now, he’s sharing these stories with the rest of the world.
Over a hundred Eau Claire area residents packed the Riverview Room inside L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library on Jan. 3, 2025, to hear Eau Claire native and author Nickolas Butler discuss his brand new novel, A Forty Year Kiss. Throughout the event, Butler talked about his inspirations for the novel, what he considered when writing his characters and their struggles, and many fascinating and hilarious anecdotes of his experiences while writing.
Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, but was raised in Eau Claire and has spent much of his life in the upper Midwest. He attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. In 2014, he published his first novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, which became a national bestseller and has been translated into over ten languages. He has since released four more novels and a short story collection.
A Forty Year Kiss is Butler’s fifth novel, and it follows Charlie and Vivian, a divorced couple from Chippewa Falls who reconnect after being separated for 40 years. During their time away from each other, Charlie and Vivian have led very different lives. Charlie’s been able to live for himself, travelling the world and going to college, but he also deals with a drinking problem. Vivian, on the other hand, grew up in a financial situation that was not nearly as fortunate as Charlie’s where she had to give up everything for her children and grandchildren. Throughout the novel, readers see their relationship from both perspectives, with Butler constantly switching between Charlie’s and Vivian’s points of view.
In early reviews of the novel, many readers have shown appreciation for the novel’s central romance being between two older characters, with Butler sharing a similar sentiment. In interviews and at his event, Butler talked about how the story focuses on personal growth, change, and maturity within the characters. He said that unlike romances that feature younger characters, between Charlie and Vivian, there’s sixty years of baggage, sixty years of drama, and sixty years of questions that need to be asked. He also noted that he finds “old love” more interesting because people are much more introspective at 60 than at 20.
As interesting as the ages and experiences of the central characters, though, was how Butler got the idea for A Forty Year Kiss. Throughout the event, Butler discussed how the way he wanted his prose to feel while reading was greatly influenced by “When Harry Met Sally,” but the idea for the story itself came from both a local and unconventional place.
Butler’s inspiration for the book began at the Tomahawk Room in Chippewa Falls when, in the corner of the bar, he began to overhear a conversation between two estranged lovers who appeared to be in their sixties. He heard the man ask if he could kiss the woman sitting with him, then witnessed the prolonged and passionate kiss that followed. He also heard the woman mention that she had always received chocolate from this man, among other details. As their interaction continued, Butler became increasingly invested in their history.
“I was hiding my face because I was blushing so hard,” Butler said when recounting the situation, “and I was transcribing everything!”
Butler had taken many notes on his phone about the conversation he had eavesdropped on that evening. Even though his publisher told him that they wanted him to write a literary suspense novel, though, Butler knew that he wanted to turn the bar interaction into something special.
For the people who attended the library event and purchased the novel, much of its interest comes from their ability to relate to the story. That relation, though, goes far past the novel taking place in the Chippewa Valley.
“I think it’s very real,” said Liz Rehrauer, a retired English teacher from New Auburn who attended the event. “I had a friend who was a tennis player. We played tennis together, she lost her first husband, married a judge in town. And when the judge died, she went back to a (class) reunion in Alma (or) one of the small towns across the Mississippi, and she ended up marrying a guy that she had dated in high school, and they were in their 60s.”
For Butler, telling these real stories that he sees play out in front of him every day is one of his favorite parts of writing.
“I get to imagine other people’s lives,” Butler said, while adding that he doesn’t feel the pressure to represent these lives as accurately as possible. “These are my characters.”
A Forty Year Kiss is available for purchase at The Local Store, Dotters Books, and here.
