Lorna Landvik Once in a Blue Moon Lodge Review

Once in a Blue Moon Lodge

A Novel

Download the 'Once in a Blue Moon Lodge' Discussion Guide

Revisiting the characters in her best-selling Patty Jane's House of Curl, Lorna Landvik offers a story brimming with life, humor and hope.

With her trademark wit and warmth, Lorna Landvik follows Nora Rolvaag (the do-or-die-trying daughter of Patty Jane) and a cast of characters between city and wooded retreat, Minnesota and Norway, a past that's secret and a future that's promising, but uncertain. Readers are in for a rollicking good time with characters whose strengths, foibles, and choices will have you laughing and crying.

"At long last! Patty Jane and her irresistible band of big-hearted merry-makers return to us. Lorna Landvik's humor is wrapped around a core of love, common sense, and good cooking. Pull up an easy chair, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy this grand family reunion."
—Faith Sullivan, author of Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse

Set adrift when her mother sells the salon that has been a neighborhood institution for decades, Nora Rolvaag takes a camping trip, intending to do nothing more than roast marshmallows over an open fire and under a starry sky. Two chance encounters, however, will have enormous consequences, and her getaway turns out to be more of a retreat from her daily life than she ever imagined. But Nora is the do-or-die-trying daughter of Patty Jane, who now must embrace the House of Curl's slogan: "Expect the Unexpected."

With her trademark wit and warmth, Lorna Landvik follows Nora and an ever-growing cast of characters between city and wooded retreat, Minnesota and Norway, a past that's secret and a future that's promising, but uncertain. Responding to a mysterious letter with a Norwegian postmark, Nora's grandmother Ione travels to her native land to tend to a dying cousin and her husband—two people who played a painful, pivotal role in her past. Nora accompanies her and is surprised by her grandmother's long-ago love story—but even more surprised by the beginning of her own.

A book about making new beginnings out of old endings, Once in a Blue Moon Lodge invites readers to check in, set down their baggage, and spend time with the kind of people who understand that while they can't control all that life throws at them, they can at least control how they catch it. And as anyone who has stopped in at Patty Jane's House of Curl will tell you: you're in for a rollicking good time with characters whose strengths, foibles, and choices will have you laughing and crying. Hankerings for coffee and gingerbread cookies may also be experienced.

Awards

Award of Merit for Jackets and Covers from the Association of University Presses

Lorna Landvik is the author of eleven novels including the best-selling Patty Jane's House of Curl, Angry Housewives Eating BonBons, Oh My Stars, and most recently Best to Laugh (Minnesota, 2014). She has performed stand-up and improvisational comedy around the country and is also a public speaker, playwright, and actor who gets much pleasure from mixing up margaritas on stage in her one-woman all-improvised show, Party in the Rec Room.

At long last! Patty Jane and her irresistible band of big-hearted merry-makers return to us. Lorna Landvik's humor is wrapped around a core of love, common sense, and good cooking. Pull up an easy chair, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy this grand family reunion.

—

Faith Sullivan, author of Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse

Lorna Landvik creates characters and places so warm and real that reading Once in a Blue Moon Lodge feels like coming home (if you're lucky enough to be surrounded by people and places as weird and wonderful as Lorna's—I think I am).

—

Nora McInerny, author of It's Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Cool Too)

There is a charm and warmth to this hopeful tale in which love is the glue that holds people together. Landvik's love for her characters is evident.

A people lover's book. This refreshingly simple family tale provides a comfy diversion from the everyday world.

Her characters, their gentle humor and world view, feel like home.

—

Always Packed for Adventure

The many twists and turns in the story will provide excellent fodder for book-club discussions.

Landvik's characters are generous and witty. They are big-hearted and inclusive. They inspire others, welcome strangers and appreciate practical things done well.

This novel is suffused with love—between parents and children, between spouses or lovers, between people who are unrelated but considered family. There is a gentle humor and good-heartedness in all of Landvik's books, a fondness for her characters that touches the reader.

A book about making new beginnings out of old endings, Once in a Blue Moon Lodge invites readers to check in, set down their baggage and spend time with the kind of people who understand that while they can't control all that life throws at them, they can at least control how they catch it.

I fell in love with the characters.

—

Reviews of Books On My Nightstand

The ties that bind the family and the truths that come out over time are evident and true to form for what you would expect from a feel-good contemporary novel.

You'll get caught up in short order, and you'll get wrapped up even faster.

With pockets of humor and the lighthearted nature of a small town, this work of fiction will appeal to those who enjoy cozy mysteries.

—

Green Bay Press-Gazette

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Source: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/once-in-a-blue-moon-lodge

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