The Lager Queen of Minnesota
Books | Fiction / General
3.9
(161)
J. Ryan Stradal
A National Bestseller! "The perfect pick-me-up on a hot summer day." --Washington Post "[A] charmer of a tale. . . Warm, witty and--like any good craft beer--complex, the saga delivers a subtly feminist and wholly life-affirming message." --People Magazine 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, and makes their company motto ubiquitous: Drink lots. It's Blotz. 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, grows up knowing that the real world requires a tougher constitution than her grandmother possesses. She earns a shot at learning the IPA business from the ground up--will that change their fortunes forever, and perhaps reunite her splintered family? Here we meet a cast of lovable, funny, quintessentially American characters eager to make their mark in a world that's often stacked against them. In this deeply affecting family saga, resolution can take generations, but when it finally comes, we're surprised, moved, and delighted.
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More Details:
Author
J. Ryan Stradal
Pages
353
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019
ISBN
0399563059 9780399563058
Community ReviewsSee all
"This book has been on my list for a while but it was reviews from From The Front Porch podcast that made me go out & buy it.<br/>I will be honest, I didn’t love it. It was a little over midway through before stories lines started to come together. But over all it was a decent, light-hearted read full of family dysfunction, real life (relatable) issues, & am ending that makes you want to give an at-a-boy to the underdog. And it was good enough to make me want to read Stradel’s book Kitchens of the Great Midwest.<br/>Overall, I would say 3 out of 5. I probably won’t remember much about it this time next year, but I also don’t feel like it was time wasted."
"<strong>If I could give this 10 out of 5, I would.</strong><br/><br/>As a woman who briefly worked in a brewery with a coffee company, this gave me all the feels. Incredibly well written, full of rich family history, the original cadence of timelines and anchors of money and loss after loss dovetail nicely with optimism and Midwestern work ethic. <br/><br/>Seriously, an incredible, magical novel."
"May/june"
T H
Tess Hokanson
"Great read. Loved the main characters."
J
Joann