Pontoon — Garrison Keillor

A fresh and funny Lake Wobegon novel about a woman with a secret life

Evelyn was a Sanctified Brethren woman of good standing, a devoted mother, a serious quilter. Only after she dies in her sleep, as she always wished she would, do we find out that she has been living a secret life. For years she has been in love with Raoul, a Las Vegas man who took her dancing and showed her the joys of life outside Lake Wobegon. Evelyn's stunned daughter Barbara finds she's inspired by her mother's secret commitment to pleasure. She decides to finally stop drinking and thumb her nose at the Wobegon establishment by carrying out Evelyn's final wish--to be cremated and have her ashes scattered over Lake Wobegon from a pontoon boat. It is also a time of homecoming for Debbie Detmer, a veterinary aromatherapy millionaire who has returned to Wobegon from California with her uncommitted fiance in the hope that a lavish wedding with Moet and shrimp shish kabob will save them. But Debbie's plans for a pontoon boat wedding go terribly wrong.