The Prohibited
A Novel
Will be published approx. on 29. September 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-5179-2006-7 (ISBN)
Description
A family, their liquor store, and the clash of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments in 1920s St. Paul
The Kaner brothers were getting by well enough running Kaner's Fine Wine and Spirits in St. Paul, Minnesota, until Prohibition took effect in January 1920. With their liquor store shuttered, Red, Isaac, and Lewis are left to forge new livelihoods, their paths taking turns distinct as their personalities. All of the Kaners have secrets - from a clandestine lover to a joyless marriage to an entanglement with the mob - but when it comes down to it, the family will do just about anything for each other, and they're going to have to prove it.
The Prohibited follows the Kaner family in the wake of the Eighteenth Amendment. Isaac finds unlikely means to stay close to the family trade, becoming a rabbi (or someone the Feds believe is a rabbi) to exploit a loophole that allows men of the cloth to sell sacramental wine. Lewis takes the opportunity to pursue his dream of being a playwright, managing to secure the funds to produce a staged reading of his new play, albeit from an unlikely source. And Red is happy to work in a haberdashery, though he resents his wife's suffragist allegiance and resulting support of Prohibition. Meanwhile, Red's children bring challenges of their own: tough, quick-thinking Rose is working odd jobs to send herself to medical school and trying to fix her brother's mess with the mob, something carefree Willie can't seem to grasp is deadly serious. Tangled up in the Kaners' story is Pearl Holgersen. After a tragic event up north, she has finally found community in the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, but she has a score to settle with Red's son, Willie, who was recently murdered. Or was he?
Based loosely on Matt Goldman's family history, The Prohibited brings to life 1920s St. Paul, a haven for bootleggers, gangsters, and bank robbers, but also home to many ordinary folks navigating a remarkable new social order. With his signature wry wit, Goldman presents an engrossing character study of a family testing their bonds - and irrevocably changing their lives.
Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
The Kaner brothers were getting by well enough running Kaner's Fine Wine and Spirits in St. Paul, Minnesota, until Prohibition took effect in January 1920. With their liquor store shuttered, Red, Isaac, and Lewis are left to forge new livelihoods, their paths taking turns distinct as their personalities. All of the Kaners have secrets - from a clandestine lover to a joyless marriage to an entanglement with the mob - but when it comes down to it, the family will do just about anything for each other, and they're going to have to prove it.
The Prohibited follows the Kaner family in the wake of the Eighteenth Amendment. Isaac finds unlikely means to stay close to the family trade, becoming a rabbi (or someone the Feds believe is a rabbi) to exploit a loophole that allows men of the cloth to sell sacramental wine. Lewis takes the opportunity to pursue his dream of being a playwright, managing to secure the funds to produce a staged reading of his new play, albeit from an unlikely source. And Red is happy to work in a haberdashery, though he resents his wife's suffragist allegiance and resulting support of Prohibition. Meanwhile, Red's children bring challenges of their own: tough, quick-thinking Rose is working odd jobs to send herself to medical school and trying to fix her brother's mess with the mob, something carefree Willie can't seem to grasp is deadly serious. Tangled up in the Kaners' story is Pearl Holgersen. After a tragic event up north, she has finally found community in the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, but she has a score to settle with Red's son, Willie, who was recently murdered. Or was he?
Based loosely on Matt Goldman's family history, The Prohibited brings to life 1920s St. Paul, a haven for bootleggers, gangsters, and bank robbers, but also home to many ordinary folks navigating a remarkable new social order. With his signature wry wit, Goldman presents an engrossing character study of a family testing their bonds - and irrevocably changing their lives.
Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
Reviews / Votes
"The Prohibited is a sprawling, rambunctious recounting of life in Saint Paul and the Midwest during the Roaring Twenties. Prohibition is the engine that drives Matt Goldman's incandescent novel, and as you might expect, the tale is populated by bootleggers, hoodlums, and cops on the take. But the heart of this richly imagined, deeply felt story is one family, the Kaners, caught in the dizzying vortex of a social and cultural revolution. The Prohibited is a compelling exploration of ambition, passion, and the insatiable hunger of human desire in all its forms. Goldman is a literary master, and his book is a spellbinding tour de force." -William Kent Krueger, author of God's Country"Vividly portraying a Midwestern cast of characters affected by the 1920s law outlawing alcohol, The Prohibited follows the travails of this close-knit group. Matt Goldman, while using his own family's history, tells the engrossing story of how these lives wind around each other. Full of compassion, humor, and heart." -Mary Logue, author of A Wasp in the Beehive: A Brigid Reardon Mystery
"With great brio, Matt Goldman takes us back to the wild days of prohibition-era St. Paul, Minnesota, where gangsters, haberdashers, and suffragettes can be both heroes and rogues. The setting and characters are vividly brought to life in this fast-paced novel that will have you wishing you could slip into a speakeasy and order a gin rickey." -Lorna Landvik, author of Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
425 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5179-2006-7 (9781517920067)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Matt Goldman is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of the Nils Shapiro mystery series as well as the standalone novels A Good Family and Carolina Moonset, among many others. He is also a playwright and an Emmy Award-winning television writer on shows including Seinfeld and Ellen. He lives in Minneapolis.