Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands — Jorge Amado

In the midst of carnival, roguish Vadinho dos Guimaraes dies during a parade, leaving behind his long-suffering wife, Dona Flor, a cooking instructor. As a widow, Flor devotes herself to cooking school and an assortment of well-meaning friends who urge her to remarry. She finds herself attracted to Dr. Teodoro Madureria, a kind, considerate pharmacist, who is everything Vadinho was not. After her marriage, though content, Flor longs for her first husband's sensual pleasures. And her desirous longing is so powerful that it brings the ghost of Vadinho back from the grave--right into her bed.