Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

Florence narrates in 1934.

When 12-year-old Florence Miller’s mother, Betty, wakes her in the middle of the night, Florence expects the worst. Indeed, Betty urges Florence to leave their home, which she’s done many times before, often in the middle of the night. Florence no longer protests these escapes, as she knows it will make no difference to her mother’s plans. As they hike down the freezing road toward Lake City, Minnesota, Betty refuses various offers of a ride. Betty advises Florence to flatter men when refusing them, to protect their egos and the women’s safety.

Betty and Florence rarely have heat or indoor toilets in their accommodations, which makes Betty joke about falling below the standards of Betty’s mother Julia, a disinherited member of the prominent Winthrop family. She and Florence rest against the side of a closed gas station; when they wake, their possessions have been stolen. Florence is furious, but Betty frames this as fortunate, since they will have less to carry. Betty’s relentless cheerfulness irritates her daughter.

A young woman named Marielle offers Florence and Betty a ride. Florence is surprised when Betty, who normally weaves elaborate lies about their circumstances, tells Marielle the truth: They owe a landlord back rent. Later, Florence will wish she could repay Marielle for the large impact that her small favor had on Florence’s life.

Marielle drives Betty and Florence to a diner where Florence sees a boy her age, Nathan, being lectured by a customer about the benefits of a law degree. Nathan is the owner’s son. Florence reflects gratefully that, despite her troubles, she isn’t pigeonholed into a career by her parents. Betty urges Florence to order as much food as she wants, which Florence knows means Betty wants to dine and dash. She orders a single pancake and vows never to steal. She reads a copy of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, a gift from Marielle.

The server brings Florence four pancakes, paid for by the customer who was lecturing Nathan. He brushes off Betty’s effusive thanks and offers of repayment, introducing himself as Floyd Muller. Floyd owns a business in Bear Jaw in far-north Minnesota. Florence wishes to go there, but Betty refuses until she sees their landlord arrive at the diner. Floyd helps them escape and they accompany him north, where they are sure their landlord will not find them. Florence, born in St. Paul, has never traveled so far.

Floyd, whom Florence likes for being “neither smarmy nor nervous around Betty” (38), offers Betty a job at his restaurant. They can even, he offers, spend several nights at one of the guest cabins on his property for free, until they can find more permanent lodgings. Betty and Florence are both suspicious of this good turn.

Ned narrates in 1980-1981.

Ned Prager reflects on his lifelong love of the restaurant Jorby’s, which his grandparents opened in Red Wing, Minnesota, and which was later inherited by Ned’s father, who franchised the business. This expansion led to many other family businesses going under. Ned and his mother, Ellen, disapprove of the cutbacks involved in growing the business so massively, including stagnating wages and pre-made pies. In 1980, Ned manages the Minneapolis branch, per his father’s order that if Ned can do so for a year, he will be promoted to executive at Jorby’s headquarters, an opportunity for which Ned is grateful.

Ned is trying to convince his sister, Carla, to become a lawyer so they can run Jorby’s together. His father, “an old-fashioned misogynist” (43), intends to leave the business to Ned alone, but Ned wishes to work alongside his sister, who also loves the restaurant. When he relays tension with community members who see him as a gentrifier, Carla is not sympathetic; instead, she strategizes how Ned can do better.

A young woman wearing white enters the restaurant, laughing cheerfully as she helps an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Ned feels love at first sight. He intends to ask her on a date, but she leaves before he can. Over the next several months, he seeks another glimpse of the woman. Despite the hostile reactions from customers, he spends much of his time on the main floor of the restaurant, hoping to see the woman again. When his year in Minneapolis ends, however, he still has not seen her.

On a trip north, Ned and his family eat at Floyd and Betty’s Lakeside Supper Club. The woman is at the bar. (In Chapter 18, Mariel contends that she never went to the Minneapolis Jorby’s, though Ned counters she had agreed to this story in the past, leaving it uncertain if Mariel and the woman in white are the same.) Thrilled by how ideal she is, Ned approaches, expressing how glad he is to meet her. An older woman (later revealed as Betty) buys old fashioneds for Ned’s family; Ned is discomfited by the realization that his father, Edward, has been recognized.

Ned grows annoyed when his stepmother, Peg, is patronizing about Mariel’s server job, especially as Peg herself was a Jorby’s server before marrying Ned’s father. Ned asks Mariel on a date before his family leaves town the following day, but she has plans to watch fireworks with friends and invites Ned along. He accepts, feeling hopeful for his future.

Florence narrates in 1934.

Florence admires the Lakeside Inn, though she is more hesitant about the hunting trophies decorating the inn. After several days, Florence and Betty accept their good fortune as real. Betty is excited to learn bartending which, due to the recent repeal of Prohibition, is an in-demand profession. Florence attempts to lure her mother into a promise that they will stay in Bear Jaw “no matter what” (56). Betty doesn’t confirm this but offers that she “can’t imagine a place that’s better” (57). Florence prefers the yellow house of her childhood, but Betty frowns, alluding to bad times there.

Florence comes to enjoy Bear Jaw more after she begins attending school. She throws herself into her studies, delighted when she earns praise from her teacher, weeping with joy over the suggestion that she might have a future as a teacher instead of in a menial job like housecleaning. On the last day of school, she meets Archie Eastman, a young, handsome, and intense-looking young man who lives across from the Lakeside. Floyd often plays cribbage with Archie; Florence makes it her summer mission to get invited to one of these cribbage nights.

Florence’s summer is mostly peaceful; marred only when a wealthy tourist’s child mocks her for her poverty and absent father. In a fit of rage, Florence shoves him. The boy is nearly hit by a car. When he runs for his lawyer father, Florence flees, surprising herself by heading to Archie’s house. He lets her in and reassures her that she is not, despite the boy’s claims, going to be arrested. Archie promises to “deal with it” and instructs Florence to stay in his house until he returns (62). She uses the time to snoop, noting many hunting trophies and a lack of personal items like photographs. When she sees his sink full of dishes, she washes them as a gesture of gratitude for his help. Archie returns, assuring her the boy and his family are gone. She hugs him; ominously, the novel tells us that she does not yet know “that, in time, she would ruin this man, and everything he loved” (64).