Midwest Lit: 5 Books For Your Summer Reading List That Take Place In Milwaukee

It’s summer, and everyone seems to be off on an adventure. Maybe you already have something planned, but if not, might we suggest some Midwestern armchair travel?

A good book is the cheapest form of travel there is. But while it’s fun to read about exotic locations (we do a lot of that), there is also something to be said for discovering a destination closer to home. Maybe you’ve been to Chicago or Milwaukee more times than you can count, but these familiar places can look and feel quite different on the page.

This summer, we’ll round up books set in Midwestern cities. It’s not definitive, but a sampling — an amuse-bouche, let’s say, because we’re hoping you’ll add to the list.

First up: Milwaukee.

Immigration stories loom large in books about Wisconsin’s largest city. Milwaukee was the main port of entry for immigrants to Wisconsin beginning in the 19th century, and these ethnic and racial populations continue to define the city.

“The Turk and My Mother” by Mary Helen Stefaniak

This is a series of interwoven tales of four generations of a Croatian-American family who settle in Milwaukee after World War I. George, the first-generation American son of Josef and Agnes, recounts his family’s story to his children on his deathbed. Within George’s story are other stories — stories within stories — of family members, including his feisty grandmother Staramajka.

“Yvette in America” by John Goulet

Called a “sequential novel” by the author, “Yvette in America” follows Yvette Pleven through stories that find her fleeing France in 1940 with her son and moving from Boston to Kentucky, Colorado, California, and finally Milwaukee as she struggles for independence and survival. Her life is presented through a series of flashbacks as she lies in a hospital near the end of her life.

“Whistling in the Dark” by Lesley Kagen

A murderer and molester is on the loose in Milwaukee in the summer of 1959. Young Sally O’Malley is pretty sure she knows who it is, but who would believe a child? Sally sets out to save herself and the sister she promised her dying father she’d protect.

“American Dervish” by Ayad Akhtar

Hayat Shah is a young Pakistani-American living in a suburb of Milwaukee who is struggling with religion and identity. The arrival of his mother’s childhood friend Mina Ali and her son from Pakistan shakes up Shah’s staid life, and through Mina’s liberal interpretations of the Koran, he experiences a spiritual reawakening.

“Red Weather” by Pauls Toutonghi

Yuri Balodis is the 15-year-old son of Latvian immigrants in Milwaukee’s Third Ward in 1989. As communism unravels in Eastern Europe, Balodis falls in love with the daughter of prominent local socialists and falls under the spell of Lenin and Marx, much to the horror of his parents.