Estate Book Recommendation – The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
To my clients, friends, and trusted referral sources, I have an estate book recommendation and review for you: “The Lager Queen of Minnesota”, by Minnesota-born-and-raised author J. Ryan Stradal.
I have long planned to include book reviews on this website—but not just any books. Books about trusts, books about wills, books about probates; books in which a central part of the plotline hinges on an estate in some way. I may occasionally also recommend nonfiction books. I will definitely be recommending movies and television shows about wills, trusts, and estates.
Today, I can only urge you to read the 2019 novel, “The Lager Queen of Minnesota”, by J. Ryan Stradal. When I first picked up this book, all I knew is that I had really liked the author’s first book, “Kitchens of the Great Midwest”, and I was willing to read anything else the author had written based on that book alone. (Yes, it’s that good.) I was a little hesitant, though. I don’t really drink a lot of beer. Would I even like it?
Yes. Yes, I would. Not because I’m fascinated by the chemistry of brewing beer, but because the essence of the story is everything that I love about my work.
The book skips around in the timeline across many decades, and it’s told from the perspective of multiple people. For that reason, the story that forms the backbone of the novel isn’t revealed until many pages into the book. However: the backstory to the plot is written into the actual back-cover blurb. Therefore, I feel comfortable spoiling it for you.
A father leaves his entire estate (a farm) to his younger daughter, Helen. His older daughter, Edith, does not get anything from the estate. This choice leaves the two sisters largely estranged for decades. It impacts both of their families in ways both predicable and surprising.
To be clear: I did not love this book because I believe in writing “spite wills” (a “spite will” is what I call a will written to disinherit someone out of spite). Instead, I loved the book because of the extreme compassion and humanity given to every single character. As a probate attorney who regularly speaks with clients who have been impacted by similar decisions, I loved reading each character’s different narrative about that choice.
The story begins with Edith, our disinherited daughter. It’s achingly clear that she was a good woman, and she could have used the money. That inheritance would have made a significant difference in her life at many separate times. It is to Stradal’s credit how much Edith feels like the many Minnesota women I know. I could feel my aunts and grandmother in Edith’s character.
The story continues with Helen, our favored daughter. As a reader, I am always predisposed to the first narrative I hear (Edith’s), and also the underdog’s story (again, Edith!)—yet Helen was treated with care and dignity for her perspective, her ambition, and her abilities. Stradal gave me a path to understand the father’s choice to disinherit Edith in favor of Helen (whether or not I agreed with that decision). The “Lager Queen of Minnesota” also includes the stories of other family members and how this inheritance impacted their lives.
I have worked with many clients who have disinherited a child. It is never a decision made lightly. It is often a decision made with reluctance, sorrow, and love for that child and the other people in their lives. This book is valuable and unique because it shows how different people can interpret that action, and how they live with it. I have often counseled clients that if you do not explain your decisions to your loved ones, then they will “make up” a story that explains your decisions for themselves. The characters in this book tell themselves the story of that event, and they tell themselves another story about how things could have been different.
I also loved “The Lager Queen of Minnesota” because it reminded me of the long-term consequences to these decisions. An inheritance—or lack thereof—can cast a long tail that takes decades and generations to fade. It becomes part of a family’s mythology and origin story.
The truth of estate planning is that people’s choices and values are enshrined in their last legal documents. These documents aren’t the essence of our values and lives—but they do reflect the messiness of all our lives. Our actions in life have consequences, and so do our documents. The “Lager Queen of Minnesota” shows compassion and empathy for those characters and the choices they make.
At the heart of “The Lager Queen of Minnesota” lies two things: (1) the love of brewing beer, and (2) the story of how an inheritance can be life altering for multiple generations in a family. As my close friends know, I am not an enthusiastic consumer of beer. That didn’t stop me from loving this book. But, if you do enjoy a glass of beer, may I recommend you read this book accompanied by a lager or IPA?
You can purchase a copy of the book here.
