Lakeside Supper Club
Lakeside Supper Club
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club
ON SALE: April 18, 2023
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Book description
From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them.
Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed.
Ned is also an heir—to a chain of home-style diners—and while he doesn’t have a head for business, he knows his family’s chain could provide a better future than his wife’s fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?
In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.
Reviews tK
Copy of Lager Queens
Copy of Lager Queens
The Lager Queen of Minnesota
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Book description
A novel of family, Midwestern values, hard work, fate and the secrets of making a world-class beer, from the bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Two sisters, one farm. A family is split when their father leaves their shared inheritance entirely to Helen, his younger daughter. Despite baking award-winning pies at the local nursing home, her older sister, Edith, struggles to make what most people would call a living. So she can't help wondering what her life would have been like with even a portion of the farm money her sister kept for herself.
With the proceeds from the farm, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country. Where Edith has a heart as big as Minnesota, Helen's is as rigid as a steel keg. Yet one day, Helen will find she needs some help herself, and she could find a potential savior close to home. . . if it's not too late.
Meanwhile, Edith's granddaughter, Diana, earns a shot at learning the IPA business from the ground up--will that change their fortunes forever, and perhaps reunite her splintered family?
In this deeply affecting family saga, resolution can take generations, but when it finally comes, we're surprised, moved, and delighted.
Reviews
“Brilliant. . . a love letter to the Midwest. . . it’s hard to put down not only because the storytelling is so seamless and the characters so relatable, but because the author’s delight in the written word is so contagious.”
“The Lager Queen of Minnesota is pure reading joy: warm, funny, informative, and full of heart. It is impossible not to root for Stradal’s characters, who are so vivid, and relatable that you will miss them every time you set the book down; indeed, if you set it down at all.”
“Warm, whimsical, incredibly well-written and infused with Stradal’s signature sympathy for his characters—those everyday heroes we all know and love. . . a thorough delight, from beginning to end.”
“With the easy-to-love quaffability of a crisp ale or a complex IPA, Stradal’s The Lager Queen of Minnesota will warm your heart. Full of empathy, love, wisdom and humor on every page, I wish I could go back for more.”
“The Lager Queen of Minnesota is the kind of book you think about all day, while at work, while speaking to someone else, while in line at the market. . . . I loved this book so much. I carried it with me like a talisman, marveling at the unique storytelling of J. Ryan Stradal, who knows his people so well. It’s a portrait of America, of place and land and neighborhood, and, of course, a celebration of beer.”
“A book to make you laugh and cry and believe the best days of your life are still in front of you.”
Novel info
Novel info
Copy of Kitchens
Copy of Kitchens
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Book description
The New York Times bestselling debut about about Eva Thorvald, a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country's most coveted dinner reservation.
Who is Eva Thorvald? To her chef father, Lars, Eva's a miniature recipe tester and the love of his life. To the chili chow-down contestants of Chicago, she's a pint-sized hustler. One day, Eva will surprise everyone . . . Abandoned by her mother, Eva finds solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota, and a passion bordering on obsession.
J. Ryan Stradal delves into the American heartland, sweeping the vast landscapes of Lutheran church bake-offs, chili-pepper eating contests, and the opening of deer season to capture the zeitgeist of the Midwest and the rise of foodie culture. Kitchens of the Great Midwest is about the family you lose, the friends you make and the chance connections that can define a life.
Reviews
“An impressive feat of narrative jujitsu. . . that keeps readers turning the pages too fast to realize just how ingenious they are..”
“This is a book that made me want to have a more full and colorful life, a life with cookbooks and a well-used kitchen, and to delight at all the goodness that can be put in front of us.”
“A sweet and savory treat.”
“The author’s gentle skewering of foodie snobs (from county fair doyennes to the vegan/gluten-free/soy-free police) is spot on, and the blend of humor, warmth, and longing that he uses to portray family relationships make the book insightful and endearing. Savor it page by page.”
“Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a terrific reminder of what can be wrested from suffering and struggle – not only success, but also considerable irony, a fair amount of wisdom and a decent meal.”
“Warning: this will make you hungry. . . . You won’t be able to put it down. And it will up your kitchen game.”
“Garrison Keillor’s got nothing on [J. Ryan Stradal]!”
“A tender coming-of-age story with a mix of finely rendered pathos and humor.”
“Stradal’s debut novel tackles foodie culture with all the finesse of a pastry chef…Reading Kitchens is all pleasure.”
“[A] captivating debut novel. . . as surprising and satisfying as a great meal.”
“Foodies and those who love contemporary literature will devour this novel that is being compared to Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. A standout.”