Rich with worldly scenarios and passionate characters, The Doomed Bridegroom narrates one woman’s arousal by rebel men, real and imagined, in Canada, eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean. This memoir of political and erotic attraction to the fated hero begins in the 1960s with the first bridegroom, a draft dodger from New York with spirited political convictions and a troubled separation from love. It ends in the present with a wistful encounter in a Belgrade café with a young Serbian poet.

“Myrna Kostash writes like a bohemian Tosca – The Doomed Bridegroom is a lyrical, lovesick, and compelling antidote to the commonplace memoir.” Lynne Crosbie, author of Liar.

“Kostash has invented a rich literary genre: the erotic-political memoir. With grace, intelligence, knowledge and humour, Kostash leads us through her romantic odyssey, a voyage that records her own sentimental education, but also major events of this waning century’s political history.” Alberto Manguel, Globe and Mail