Book Review: The Baker’s Daughter

The Baker’s Daughter

by Sarah McCoy

Crown (January 24, 2012)

I thought I had this book all figured out before I read it. With two settings as far apart as they are in time and place, and a central character who is a writer, I assumed that Elsie’s story would end up being revealed to the world in the book that Reba would, inevitably, write.  The book is not, however, about a writer discovering her voice. It is, instead, about one woman doing the right thing, no matter how hard it is, and doing it because it is what she wants to do.

The novel alternates between the story of Elsie as a girl in Germany, near the end of World War 2, and the story of Reba, a writer who interviews Reba about Christmas traditions for magazine article.  It is 2007, and Elsie has lived in El Paso since after the war. She runs the town’s only German bakery with her daughter, Jane.  She does not have warm memories of Christmas time, though. Things were hard in Nazi Germany, and even though she loved her family very much, there is no escaping the struggle they went through.  While Reba does not get the story that she came looking for, she does get the benefit of the friendship of Elsie and Jane. They help her figure out the path that she needs to take to find herself again.  The reader gets something more.

Elsie’s story is not revealed to anyone else in the book until very late in the story. The reader, however, is privy to her experiences during the last year of the war, before the Nazis are defeated.  They know about the officer who proposes marriage to her with a ring taken from a Jew. They know about the young Jewish boy she risks her life to save. And they get a glimpse at the path that led her to a border town in Texas.  Her story is an inspiring one, and I rather like the fact that the reader is left to come that realization on his/her own. We are not told that we should admire Elsie. We are shown why we should. The Baker’s Daughter encourages self-discovery and teaches self-reliance.  I went in hoping to enjoy the story, but I ended up learning something, too.

I also ended up with a sweet tooth.  I wish I had been in that test kitchen!

An eGalley of this book was provided by the publisher for review via NetGalley.

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