Novels
- Patty Jane’s House of Curl (1995)
- Your Oasis on Flame Lake (1997)
- The Tall Pine Polka (1998)
- Welcome to the Great Mysterious (2000)
- Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (2003)
- Oh My Stars (2005)
- The View from Mount Joy (2007)
- ‘Tis The Season (2008)
- Mayor of the Universe (2012)
- Best to Laugh (2014)
- Once in a Blue Moon Lodge (2017)
- Chronicles of a Radical Hag (2019)
Omnibus
- The Tall Pine Polka / Your Oasis on Flame Lake (2005)
Novels Book Covers
Omnibus Book Covers
Lorna Landvik Books Overview
Patty Jane’s House of Curl
Patty Jane Dobbin should have known better than to marry a man as gorgeous as Thor Rolvaag, but she was too smitten to think twice. Yet nine months into their marriage, with a baby on the way, Thor is gone. It’s a good thing Patty Jane has her irrepressible sister, Harriet, to rely on. For it s been said that a fine haircut can cure any number of ills, and before long the Minnesota sisters have opened a neighborhood beauty parlor complete with live harp music and an endless supply of delicious Norwegian baked goods. It s a wonderful, warmhearted place where you can count on good friends, lots of laughter, tears, and comfort when you need it and the unmistakable scent of somebody getting a permanent wave…
.
Your Oasis on Flame Lake
Best friends fast approaching forty in the small Minnesota town of Flame Lake, Devera and BiDi were recently voted Least Changed at their twentieth high school reunion a label neither one finds very appealing. For each craves a change in her life: Devera desires a break from her humdrum marital routine; BiDi longs to reconnect with her distant fourteen year old daughter the only girl on the high school hockey team, not to mention jump start a sex drive stuck in neutral. So when Devera’s husband decides to fulfill his longtime dream of opening a nightclub in his baseme*nt, Your Oasis on Flame Lake arrives not a moment too soon. Nothing fancy, it s just a BYOB joint where you can hang out, sing, dance, tell jokes, and be yourself. But then an unexpected crisis throws both families into chaos, forcing them all to take stock of their lives and learn the power of forgiveness.
The Tall Pine Polka
Life, they say, is a state of mind. In the small northwoods town of Tall Pine Minnesota, that state of mind is found at the Cup O’Delight caf , where the robust and very beautiful Lee O’Leary makes a cup of coffee that’s balm for the heart. The O’Delight gang gathers there every day and occasionally for what it calls The Tall Pine Polka, an event in which heavenly coffee, good food, and that feeling of being alive among friends inspires both body and soul to dance. Escaping to the northwoods from an abusive husband, Lee answered the question ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ by opening the cafe. Now it’s a clubhouse of sorts for Tall Pine’s more colorful citizens. There’s Miss Penk and Frau Katt, the town’s only lesbian couple ‘Well, we’re za only ones who admit it.’; Bill, proprietor of the Shoe Shack, who spends nights crafting beautiful shoes to present to Lee along with his declaration of love; Slim, the shell shocked veteran; Mary, whose bad poetry can clear out the cafe in seconds flat; and, most important of all, Lee’s best friend, Fenny Ness, a smart and sassy twenty two year old going on eighty, who has managed her parents’ tourist shop since their tragic death put her in state of grounded melancholy she has no intention of leaving. Then Hollywood rolls into Tall Pine. It seems the quiet border town is the perfect location for a romantic comedy set in a place ‘with quaintness up the wazoo.’ And Fenny, pounced on like a bone in a yard full of hungry dogs, is evidently that rarity in Hollywood: a ‘natural.’ She’s also the film’s new star. Then, in the middle of the Tall Pine Tinseltown culture clash, an itinerant musician known as Big Bill drops his backpack named Big Bill because he’s big and, well, his name is Bill. Soon Lee and Fenny find their friendship tested in unimagined ways by their mutual affections for the attractive newcomer. As the eccentrics keep a cool eye on the complex geometry of this romantic triangle, events at once sublime, surreal, and tragic push all their hearts in unexplored directions where endings can turn into new beginnings. Delighted readers of Your Oasis on Flame Lake and Patty Jane’s House of Curl have something to cheer about. Resplendent with Lorna Landvik’s trademark pathos, hilarity, and offbeat characters, The Tall Pine Polka is a lyrical, funny, and idiosyncratic tale that is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Landvik is a remarkable writer with the power to illuminate the workings of the human heart.
Welcome to the Great Mysterious
‘All right, so I’m a diva…
. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Geneva Jordan, star of stage, screen, and television. If you didn’t see me accept my Tony, I’m sure you heard my voice singing the ‘Sweetie Cat’ litterbox and Chef Mustachio Frozen Pizza jingles…
.’Now Geneva Jordan has a command performance in Minnesota, a challenging role set in reality. Making her entrance with her usual flair, she is coming to the rescue of her twin sister, Ann, and Ann’s husband, Riley. They desperately need someone to care for their thirteen year old son, Rich, a boy with Down’s syndrome, while the couple takes their first ever vacation away from him. Though she and Ann are as different as night and day ‘I being night, of course, dark and dramatic’, Geneva remembers she had a family before she had a star on her door. But so accustomed is she to playing the lead, finding herself a supporting actress in someone else’s life is strange and unexplored territory. Leaving behind the bright lights of Manhattan, a tumultuous relationship with a charming if cheating Brit whose tastes run to doe eyed ingenues Geneva heads to Deep Lake, Minnesota. Vowing to have the part of June Cleaver minus the pearls down flat, she gracefully steps into her role with a determination that she will perform with great panache even if she bombs at navigating the perils of domesticity. However, life, Geneva soon learns, doesn’t always follow even the best of scripts. And just as the guileless Rich and the eccentric folks of Deep Lake begin to open her heart, an unexpected tragedy forever changes the lives of those she has come to care about, forcing her to redefine her own role as well. Lorna Landvik delivers an extra special treat for readers who relished The Tall Pine Polka and Patty Jane’s House of Curl. Hilarious and heart wrenching, this wonderfully touching story is brilliantly told by a writer with a gift for portraying the dark side of comedy and the lighter side of tragedy to create a harmony that is the very essence of life and love.
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane’s House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Lorna Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere by skillfully balancing hilarity with pathos, and bittersweet insights with heartwarming truths. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small town Minnesota where the most eclectic, and engaging group of women you ll ever meet share love, loss, and laughter. Sometimes life is like a bad waiter it serves you exactly what you don t want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life s table, fully convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can t fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together the foundation of a book group they call AWEB Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons an unofficial club that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. The five women each have a story of their own to tell. There s Faith, the newcomer, a lonely housewife and mother of twins, a woman who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, the resident sex queen who knows that good posture and an attitude can let you get away with anything; Merit, the shy, quiet doctor s wife with the face of an angel and the private hell of an abusive husband; Kari, a thoughtful, wise woman with a wonderful laugh as deep as Santa Claus s with a cold who knows the greatest gifts appear after life s fiercest storms; and finally, Slip, activist, adventurer, social changer, a tiny, spitfire of a woman who looks trouble straight in the eye and challenges it to arm wrestle. Holding on through forty eventful years through the swinging Sixties, the turbulent Seventies, the anything goes Eighties, the nothing s impossible Nineties the women will take the plunge into the chaos that inevitably comes to those with the temerity to be alive and kicking. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons depicts a special slice of American life, of stay at home days and new careers, children and grandchildren, bold beginnings and second chances, in which the power of forgiveness, understanding, and the perfectly timed giggle fit is the CPR that mends broken hearts and shattered dreams. Once again Lorna Landvik leaves you laughing and crying, as she reveals perhaps the greatest truth: that there is nothing like the saving grace of best friends.
Oh My Stars
I am convinced that at birth the cake is already baked. Nurture is the nuts or frosting, but if you re a spice cake, you re a spice cake, and nothing is going to change you into an angel food. Tall, slender Violet Mathers is growing up in the Great Depression, which could just as well define her state of mind. Abandoned by her mother as a child, mistreated by her father, and teased by her schoolmates Hey, Olive Oyl, where’s Popeye? , the lonely girl finds solace in artistic pursuits. Only when she s hired by the town s sole feminist to work the night shift in the local thread factory does Violet come into her name, and bloom. Accepted by her co workers, the teenager enters the happiest phase of her life, until a terrible accident causes her to retreat once again into her lonely shell. Realizing that she has only one clear choice, Violet boards a bus heading west to California. But when the bus crashes in North Dakota, it seems that Fate is having another cruel laugh at Violet s expense. This time though, Violet laughs back. She and her fellow passengers are rescued by two men: Austin Sykes, whom Violet is certain is the blackest man to ever set foot on the North Dakota prairie, and Kjel Hedstrom, who inspires feelings Violet never before has felt. Kjel and Austin are musicians whose sound is like no other, and with pluck, verve, and wit, Violet becomes part of their quest to make a new kind of music together. Oh My Stars is Lorna Landvik s most ambitious novel yet, with a cast of characters whose travails and triumphs you ll long remember. It is a tale of love and hope, bigotry and betrayal, loss and discovery as Violet, who s always considered herself a minor character in her own life story, emerges as a hero*ine you ll laugh with, cry with, and, most important, cheer for all the way. From the Hardcover edition.
The View from Mount Joy
The View from Mount Joy, Lorna Landvik’s delightfully quirky and intensely moving new novel, is about a man, a supermarket, the roads not taken, and the great, unexpected pleasures found in living a good life. When hunky teenage hockey player Joe Andreson and his widowed mother move to Minneapolis, Joe falls under the seductive spell of Kristi Casey, Ole Bull High s libidinous head cheerleader, the kind of girl a guy can t say no to, even when saying yes guarantees trouble. Joe balances Kristi s lustful manipulation with the down to earth companionship of his smart, platonic girlfriend, Darva. But it is Kristi who will prove to be a temptation and torment throughout Joe s life. Years later, having once dreamed of a career in pro hockey or as a globetrotting journalist, Joe can t believe that life has deposited him in the aisles of Haugland Foods. But he soon learns that being a grocer is like being the mayor of a small town: His constituents confide astonishing things and always appreciate the value of a hard to pass up special, a free toy for a well behaved youngster, a pie for the best rendition of Alfie, or simply Joe s generous dispensing of the milk of human kindness. For Joe, everyday life is its own roller coaster ride, and all he wants to do is hold on tight. The path Kristi has charged down, on the other hand, is as wild as Joe s is tame or at least that s how it appears to the outside world. But who has really risked more? Who has lived more? And who is truly happy? As Joe discovers in this dramatic, heartbreaking, and hilarious novel sometimes people are lucky enough to be standing in the one place where the view of the world is breathtaking, if only they ll open their eyes to all there is to see. The View from Mount Joy is truly glorious: a warm, wonderful picture of life as seen from the deepest places in the heart. From the Hardcover edition.
‘Tis The Season
Bestselling author Lorna Landvik shines in this delightful holiday novel of redemption and forgiveness. Heiress Caroline Dixon has managed to alienate nearly everyone with her alcohol fueled antics, which have also provided near constant fodder for the poison pen tabloids and their gossip hungry readers. But like so many girls behaving badly, the twenty six year old socialite gets her comeuppance, followed by a newfound attempt to live a saner existence, or at least one more firmly rooted in the real world. As Caro tentatively begins atoning for past misdeeds, she reaches out to two wonderful people who years ago brought meaning to her life: her former nanny, Astrid Brevald, now living in Norway and Arizona dude ranch owner, Cyril Dale. While Astrid fondly remembers Caro as a special, sweet little girl left in her charge, Cyril recalls how he and his late wife were quite taken with the quick witted teenager Caro had become when she spent a difficult period in her life at the ranch as her father was dying. In a series of e mail exchanges, Caro reveals the depth of her pain and the lengths she went to hide it. In turn, Astrid and Cyril share their own stories of challenging times and offer the unconditional support this young woman has never known. The correspondence leads to the promise of a reunion, just in time for Christmas. But the holiday brings unexpected revelations that change the way everyone sees themselves and one another. At once heartfelt and witty, Tis the Season bears good tidings of great joy about the human condition that down and out doesn t mean over and done, that the things we need most are closer than we know, and that the true measure of one’s worth rests in the boundless depths of the soul.
The Tall Pine Polka / Your Oasis on Flame Lake
Best friends fast approaching forty in the small Minnesota town of Flame Lake, Devera and BiDi were recently voted ‘Least Changed’ at their twentieth high school reunion a label neither one finds very appealing. For each craves a change in her life: Devera desires a break from her humdrum marital routine; BiDi longs to connect with her distant fourteen year old daughter, the only girl on the high school hockey team not to mention to jump start a sex drive stuck in neutral. So when Devera’s husband decides to fulfill his long time dream of opening a nightclub in his baseme*nt, Your Oasis on Flame Lake arrives not a moment too soon. Nothing fancy, it’s just a BYOB joint to hang out in, sing, dance, tell jokes, and be yourself. But then an unexpected crisis throws both families into chaos, forcing them all to take stock of their lives and learn the power of forgiveness.’A hard to put down novel that finds complexity and intrigue in the simplest of everyday lives and the simple friendships that offer comfort and support…
Very clearly character driven, the storyline evolves from the nature and motivations of the people Landvik renders.’ Middlesex News’The novel builds to a well crafted and suspenseful climax…
It is a fine, original novel, leavened with humor; very readable.’ Louisville Voice Tribune’The story is freckled with laughter, sadness and life in general. It will often remind you that those small things you take for granted are the ones you will remember fondly in years to come.’ Rocky Mountain News’In Your Oasis on Flame Lake, each of the characters tells his/her own story. Lorna Landvik skillfully weaves each of these stories into one interesting and attention holding book.’ Marietta Journal’Some writers do comedy really well. Others pen drama best. Luckily for us, some manage to combine true wit and intense conflict in one narrative. Lorna Landvik…
manages this feat with aplomb in her latest novel.’ Boston Tab
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