About this item
A story about a grandma, the family who loves her, and the inheritance they are all counting on for their own reasonsBy most measures the inheritance is modest, but when Edith Kipling takes control of the last parcel of her parents' land she feels she's won the lottery. She can finally move into an assisted living community, bake rhubarb pies for the neighbors, and no longer share a home with her grandson and his girlfriend. But her children have other ideas: if Edith would just accept her wealthy cousin's offer of $31,000 for the land, she could pass on their rightful share of her family farm's last yield. Even a portion would be a windfall for any of them--facilitating a mortgage payment to keep a home, some Christmas presents for the kids, or a car repair to keep a job. Edith, widow to one of Minnesota's kindest but poorest men, has never owned much of anything, and at last succumbs to a pull that leaves her children, and even herself, longing for financial security. Most of Edith's relatives stop speaking to her, and the family that she took pride in keeping together is torn apart.When Edith's granddaughter, Diana, the frontwoman of the lauded indie rock band Smarmy Kitten, inherits the farmland, readers wonder if history will repeat itself. Will she do right by her family or think only of herself? Is there a way to give the next generation of Kiplings a head start? Ultimately, the Kiplings' financial situation become a matter of life and death. Who will survive? J. Ryan Stradal's new novel introduces us to loveable, quintessentially Midwestern characters who are eager to do right in a world where everything is stacked against them. Here, he shows us up close how Midwestern values interact with American notions of class and the value of money. In this deeply affecting, emotional family saga, resolution takes generations, but when it finally comes, we're left surprised and delighted.
About the Author
Born and raised in Minnesota, J. Ryan Stradal now lives in California, where he is an advisory board member at 826LA and co-producer & host of the literary/culinary series Hot Dish.His second novel, THE LAGER QUEEN OF MINNESOTA, was published by Viking / Pamela Dorman Books in July 2019. Receiving starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and BookPage, it became a national bestseller its first week of release, and in 2020, won the WILLA Literary Award in Contemporary Fiction. LAGER QUEEN was named one of the best books of 2019 by USA Today and NPR, among other places, and its rights have been optioned for television.His first book is the New York Times-bestselling novel KITCHENS OF THE GREAT MIDWEST (Viking / Pamela Dorman Books) . Voted the 2016 Adult Debut Book of the Year in the American Booksellers Association's Indies Choice Book Awards, and named fiction book of the year by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association, KITCHENS has also been acquired for publication in twelve other countries. In 2014, prior to publication, the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society awarded KITCHENS first prize in their annual novel competition.His shorter work has appeared in Hobart, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Granta, The Rumpus, The Los Angeles Review of Books, BuzzFeed, Midnight Breakfast, CNET, and Vanity Fair.com. He likes books, wine, sports, root beer, and peas.
