In his new novel, The Prohibited, Matt Goldman highlights the trying times of the 1920s in and around St. Paul, Minnesota, and shines a light on all of the things beyond alcohol that were also prohibited at the time.
For Goldman, his fictional story of a family struggling with prohibition was born from a real family history. "My great grandfather and his brothers owned a liquor store in St. Paul," says Goldman. "I know they all had to start over... that's part of what inspired [the story]." In the book, the family is set back by the closure of their liquor store, and their troubles are only amplified with a son needing to escape from mob dealings, tensions in a troubled marriage, and the goals of the suffragette movement contrasting with the ambitions of liquor sellers.
Although alcohol is the primary subject tied to the prohibition era, Goldman's characters tell a deeper tale of the time. Secrets are kept regarding interracial relationships and same sex relationships, and themes of prohibition can also be felt in the larger community. "There were so many other prohibitions in that time," says Goldman. "Women were fighting for their own rights, the African American community was fighting for their own rights, people who wanted to marry out of their faith were fighting for those rights... There really is a lot of prohibition going on in 1922."
The Prohibited is available wherever books are sold, including at local independent bookstores.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
