Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club: A Novel
“Stradal serves up another saga of food and family, hurt and healing, pitched between cliff-hanger moments. . . that make the pages fly.” —People
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.
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.
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Community Reviews
It's 1996 Mariel Prager is 39 and has inherited her family's restaurant in Minnesota. She has not spoken to her mother in ten years and now her mother is stubbornly waiting for her at the local church.
There are flashbacks of her mother, Florence, and her life in 1934 when she was 12. Florence and her mother, Betty, are always running away and end up in a diner, where a man named Floyd buys them pancakes.
Then we follow the story of Ned, 1980-1981, who is now general manager of Jorby's a chain of classic American restaurants started by his grandfather in 1921.
The book continues to chronicle the lives of Mariel, Florence, and Ned through the years. In 1940 Florence marries Gustav and they have a child, Mariel. This is intergenerational family drama that held my interest. There are several mysteries to uncover. Why had Betty and Florence run away, what happened to cause the estrangement of Florence and Mariel.
It is a story of marriages, friendships, and mother-daughter relationships. Recommended.
There are flashbacks of her mother, Florence, and her life in 1934 when she was 12. Florence and her mother, Betty, are always running away and end up in a diner, where a man named Floyd buys them pancakes.
Then we follow the story of Ned, 1980-1981, who is now general manager of Jorby's a chain of classic American restaurants started by his grandfather in 1921.
The book continues to chronicle the lives of Mariel, Florence, and Ned through the years. In 1940 Florence marries Gustav and they have a child, Mariel. This is intergenerational family drama that held my interest. There are several mysteries to uncover. Why had Betty and Florence run away, what happened to cause the estrangement of Florence and Mariel.
It is a story of marriages, friendships, and mother-daughter relationships. Recommended.
I wasn’t loving this book the whole time, but the recall and connection of plot events as the story flipped pov was very impressive. However the ending of the book brought this from 4 stars to 3 stars for me.
Beaucoup de longueur… L’histoire mène pas à grand chose. Ned est centré sur lui même et tout devrait lui revenir même s’il n’est pas capable de faire la job, il a toujours une raison à donner.
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