The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal was published in July, 2019. It is a book about family, forgiveness, and Midwestern values. And, let us not forget—beer! The novel begins in the 1950’s and follows the lives of three women, Edith, her granddaughter, Diana, and Helen, her younger sister. I listened to a podcast by Stradal, and he said that the character, Edith is based on his mother and grandmother.
Edith’s father leaves all of his money to Helen, after she convinces him that she has a plan for the inheritance, and Edith doesn’t. Edith never speaks to Helen again. Helen goes on to open a extremely successful brewery. Edith marries, has children, and works at a nursing home where she bakes award-winning pies. Diana sees how her grandmother is struggling, and is motivated to open an IPA business of her own. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but this is a delightful novel. If you are Midwestern, Minnesotan, have a Swedish background, like pie and beer, then this book is for you! Who is the Lager Queen? You will have to decide this for yourself!
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After reading The Lager Queen of Minnesota, I just had to read Stradal’s debut novel, Kitchens of the Great Midwest. It was published in July of 2015. This book follows the life of the character, Eva Thorvald. Eva has a tough beginning in life. However, at a young age, it is discovered that Eva has a “perfect palate”. She begins working in a restaurant, underage and unpaid, just to get experience. Each chapter introduces characters that Eva comes in contact with at that period in her life to tell her story. Many characters appear again in later chapters to show Eva as she grows. I found this structure a unique way to tell Eva’s story. There are recipes throughout the book. I want to make the award-winning peanut butter bars that are mentioned in the book. They are completely off of my diet plan, and I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand (due to Coronavirus), but I will feature them on the blog at a later date!
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I look forward to reading more books by J. Ryan Stradal. I love the characters that he creates. It makes me reminisce about my childhood in the Midwest, which is a good thing.
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