Janelle Greene

The State Beverages Club by Janelle Greene

The last time Claire Watkins saw Famous Jam Study play, she ended up sobbing on the sidewalk outside Verdigris Town Hall as an ambulance drove away. Now the band is getting back together, and somehow an invitation to their reunion show ended up in Claire’s mailbox. 

Despite all advice to the contrary, Claire kind of wants to go. Not just because her ex-boyfriend is the guitarist, and not just because their best song is about her dead dad, and not just because she spent three years selling their shitty t-shirts and cassette tapes. But because when she lost the band, she lost the only leadership position she ever loved—president and founding member of a club designed for bored-stiff band girlfriends (even the ones she hated).

THE STATE BEVERAGES CLUB follows Claire as she relives and tries to reclaim her merch girl years and abandoned friendships. From the pioneer plains of South Dakota to a tomato survivalist festival in Ohio to the alcohol-soaked campgrounds outside the Indianapolis 500, Claire struggles with her own still-bubbling bitterness—and searches for the courage to face the pain she left in her wake.


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