Plot
The novel begins with the death of 81-year-old Evelyn Peterson in her sleep. Evelyn was a widow who had a reputation for staying positive yet straightforward with the way she lived life in her later years, in direct counter to the negative and passive-aggressive personalities of the Lake Wobegon townsfolk. Barbara, Evelyn's daughter, discovers her mother's body the next morning. Barbara is divorced, works as a school lunchlady, and lives a life troubled by her past and complicated by recurring alcoholism. The death is a shock, since Evelyn had been in seemingly-great health in the days prior. Barbara soon notifies both her overbearing aunt Flo, and her son Kyle, a college student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Going through her mother's personal effects, Barbara soon comes across two huge tidbits of information. One is a last will and testament, in which Evelyn instructs that her body be cremated and her ashes stuffed into a hollowed-out bowling ball, to be thrown into Lake Wobegon. This is to the deep chagrin of Flo, yet to the delight of Kyle, who offers to drop the bowling ball from a mid-air para-sail. The second is a voicemail left the night before by a man named Raoul Olson, a retired entertainer who lives in Minneapolis, and, as Barbara discovers, an on-again, off-again flame whom her mother had been seeing for years without anyone's knowledge. Barbara makes a trip to Minneapolis to look for Raoul and inform him of Evelyn's death. He reminisces, both on the voicemail and to Barbara, of how he and Evelyn met, and how they would meet again, especially after the death of Evelyn's estranged husband, Jack, from a heart attack. Reliving her mother's later years, as well as assessing her life for what it is and how far it's come, Barbara quits alcohol cold turkey and declares herself to be an atheist. (She apparently forgets this in times of stress, however, sometimes praying frantically during emergencies.)
Meanwhile, Debbie Detmer, in her 30s and living and working in California at an alternative pet health store, returns to Lake Wobegon for her marriage to Brent, an arrogant CEO of a private jet rental company. Debbie's father, the former CEO of an energy company, suffers from the lingering effects of a concussion from a fall in his bathroom, leaving her mother to take care of him. When Brent arrives to Lake Wobegon, he is none too pleased with the backwards nature of the town, not to mention the lack of cellular coverage, and has a poor attitude, which Debbie tries to manage during her time home. Eventually, plans for the marriage fall apart after Debbie gets fed up with Brent's attitude about the trip, Lake Wobegon, and her family. Additionally, Kyle makes the snap decision to leave his girlfriend Sarah and to quit college, but has a car accident on the way back to Lake Wobegon. He is uninjured, but his brush with death causes him to reevaluate his life.
Having read some her mother's old papers, Barbara realizes that she is Raoul's biological daughter, and tells him this.
After a memorial service, Kyle gets ready to para-sail over the Lake to deposit Evelyn's ashes. Due to a series of mishaps (which include a burning hot-air balloon, two giant duck decoys, and a capsizing pontoon boat that dumps two dozen visiting pastors from Denmark into the lake), Kyle ends up airborne without any clothing at all, and narrowly escapes a fatal accident. Barbara convinces Kyle to return to the University of Minnesota, where he changes his major to history (eventually becoming a very successful author and lecturer).
A few years later, having settled her mother's affairs, Barbara embarks optimistically upon a road trip in search of a new life, unsure when or if she will ever return to Lake Wobegon.
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion, which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs one or two poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
A Prairie Home Companion is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed Live from Here and ran until 2020. A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota; it was also frequently heard on tours to New York City and other U.S. cities. The show is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Keillor's wry storytelling segment, "News from Lake Wobegon," was the show's best-known feature during his long tenure.
Freeport is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 632 at the 2010 census. Freeport is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The "Little House" Books is a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, based on her childhood and adolescence in the American Midwest between 1870 and 1894. Eight of the novels were completed by Wilder, and published by Harper & Brothers. The appellation "Little House" books comes from the first and third novels in the series of eight published in her lifetime. The second novel was about her husband's childhood. The first draft of a ninth novel was published posthumously in 1971 and is commonly included in the series.
Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage from Morris, Manitoba.
Lake Wobegon Days is a novel by Garrison Keillor, first published in hardcover by Viking in 1985. Based on material from his radio show A Prairie Home Companion, the book brought Keillor's work to a much wider audience and achieved international success selling over 1 million copies. Like some of Keillor's other books, it is unusual in that it could be said that the audiobook preceded the publication in written form.
Sue Scott is an American actress and character voice actor (AFTRA/SAG/AEA) in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. She is best known for her work as a radio comedy actor on Garrison Keillor's public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and for her work as a voice-over talent in radio and television commercials. She has also appeared in films and television.
A Prairie Home Companion is a 2006 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Altman and is his final film. It is a fictional representation of behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. The film received mostly positive reviews and was a moderate box-office success on a small budget. The film features an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, and Lily Tomlin.
Aunt Flo is a popular euphemism referring to the menstrual cycle. It may also refer to:
Andrea Een is a violinist, violist, Hardanger fiddler, poet, and Professor Emerita of Music at St. Olaf College.
Lake Wobegon is a fictional town created by Garrison Keillor as the setting of the recurring segment "News from Lake Wobegon" for the radio program A Prairie Home Companion broadcast from St Paul, Minnesota. The fictional town serves as the setting for many of Keillor's stories and novels, gaining an international audience with Lake Wobegon Days in 1985. Described as a small rural town in central Minnesota, the events and adventures of the townspeople provided Keillor with a wealth of humorous and often touching stories.
The culture of Minnesota is a subculture of the United States with influences from Scandinavian Americans, Finnish Americans, Irish Americans, German Americans, Native Americans, Czechoslovak Americans, among numerous other immigrant groups. They work in the context of the cold agricultural and mining state.
Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories is a short story anthology written by Garrison Keillor, a humorous fictional account of life in small-town Minnesota set in the fictitious heartland town of Lake Wobegon. It was first published in hardcover by Viking Penguin, Inc. in 1987.
The Lake Wobegon Trail are two paved recreational rail trails in central Minnesota, named after the fictional Lake Wobegon in Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion". Each trail is marked with mileposts every 0.5 miles (0.80 km), corresponding with the mile markers of the former railroad lines. Snowmobile use is allowed on the trail in winter, conditions permitting.
Sedra Bistodeau is an American fiddler and violinist from Princeton, Minnesota.
We Are Still Married: Stories & Letters is a collection of short stories and poems by Garrison Keillor, including several set in the fictitious heartland town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. It was first published in hardcover by Viking Penguin, Inc. in 1989. An expanded edition was published in 1990.
Loyce Houlton was an American dancer, choreographer, dance pedagogue, and arts administrator centered for most of her adult life in Minneapolis. Founder of the Minnesota Dance Theatre, she maintained connections with many of the most prominent national and international dance figures and composers of her day. She was acknowledged to be one of the most significant American choreographers of the 20th century and one of the first American women to gain national and international recognition as a choreographer, teacher, and producer.
Live from Here, formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile, is an American variety radio show known for its musical guests, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Hosted by Chris Thile, it aired live on Saturday evenings. The show's initial home was the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2019, the show moved to The Town Hall in New York City, where it remained until its cancellation the next year.
The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon is a 26.2 mile foot race from Holdingford, Minnesota, to St. Joseph, Minnesota, on a paved trail called the Lake Wobegon Trail. The course is USATF-certified, making it a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon. The race is sponsored and organized by the St. Cloud River Runners, a running group active since 1983 with about 150 members.
Richard Olsenius is an American photographer, videographer, and music composer whose 50-year career has taken him around the United States, throughout South America and across the Arctic. His work, has appeared in newspapers, magazines, books, art galleries, museum collections, films and stage presentations.
