Book Review: The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy

Genre: Historical fiction

Publisher: Crown Publishing

Pub date: 24 Jan 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis

Reba Williams has been tasked with hunting down a feel-good Christmas article about the local German bakery. She expects it to be an easy assignment, with the interview lasting a couple of hours. But Elsie, the owner of the German Bakery is not easy to interview. Instead of answering Reba’s questions, she keeps asking Reba about herself.
Parallel to this story in present day El Paso we also hear the story of Elsie Schmidt when she was 16 years old during the waning days of the Nazi empire. And while this assignment is just another day for Reba, it is a reminder of some of the worst times of her life for Elsie. As they become friends, all of them have to confront their pasts and presents and forgive.

Review

The Baker’s Daughter deals with themes of persecution and exclusion based of ethnicity. WWII was of course when this was taken to its darkest extreme. But even today, the border patrols in El Paso are tasked with keeping people out. Not the that two can really the same, but there are similarities.

WWII novels tend to run together and I don’t instantly love all of them, but The Baker’s Daughter has the kind of characters and moral dilemmas that made this an engrossing and touching read. Elsie’s family own a bakery have managed to survive the war by providing bread for the Nazi Party. Their older daughter Hazel also joined the party and was part of the Lebensborn program (something I didn’t know about before). It’s partly through letters from her that we see how regular people who started off supporting the Nazi program slowly came to realise what was happening and changed their minds about it. But they had no choice but to continue the support so that their families could be safe. Elsie at this time is a naïve teenager, but soon begins to understand more of what is happening around her.

In the current day story Reba is dealing with her own demons. Her engagement to Riki is shaky and she finds it hard to let down her guard and be honest about her fears. When she walks into Elsie’s bakery in El Paso, her life slowly starts to change and she finds the courage to forgive and move on. There are similarities between the lives of the two women, and Reba’s unexpected friendship with Elsie and her daughter Jane helps her come to terms with her life and choices.

This is a bittersweet story and brought tears to my eyes as I was reading it. Sarah McCoy has not only told us a story about the world war but has done it so subtly and with such an understanding of the human spirit that it’s impossible not to love the people and get completely immersed in their lives.

It’s impossible to talk about this story and not mention the food. The descriptions of the delicious breads, pastries and other baked goods are mouth-watering. And if you want to try your hand at making some of these dishes, there are recipes at the end of the book.

Verdict

Highly recommended. Story with depth and emotion – wonderfully warm characters and hope. This is one of my favourite reads of the year.

Rating: 5*

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Tags: bakery, german bakery, Nazi Germany, World War II

Book Review: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Genre: Adventure/thriller

Series: The Reincarnationist #4

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Atria Books)

Pub date: 13 March 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances—and of her mother’s suicide—she moves to America, leaving the company in the hands of her brother Robbie. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac discovers a secret the House of L’Etoile has been hiding since 1799: a scent that unlocks the mysteries of reincarnation. The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

Review

If you have been following my blog, you’ll already know that I’m a big fan of M.J. Rose’s The Reincarnationist series. (Read my reviews of The Reincarnationist, The Memorist and The Hypnotist). While not obviously marketed as book 4 of The Reincarnationist series, I think it fits right in. But it can also easily be read as a stand-alone. Rose explores scent as a medium for invoking past life memories. Through the story, you also learn a lot about perfumes – which made me giddy with imagined scents, and was a great way to learn more about perfumes and perfumers.

Jac and Robbie L’Etoile come from a long line of perfumers. Traumatised by her visions and the suicide of her mother, Jac turns her back on the family business and moves to America to become a mythologist (and busts mythologies on her TV show). But the family business is still part of her life and she has to deal with it when she finds out that the perfume business is almost bankrupt. Robbie, the romantic one, is convinced that he can save the business if he manages to recreate an ancient scent that has the power to cause past-life memories. Traces of this scent are believed to be in some shards of Egyptian pottery that the family has owned for generations. But once news of its existence becomes known, dangerous forces want to get their hands on it and will stop at nothing to get possession of the pottery and the scent.

Set between present day Paris, revolutionary Paris, Cleopatra’s Egypt, and dealing with the political/spiritual issues in Tibet, this is a tale of intrigue and suspense. While reincarnation and past-life memories are the aspects that keeps me talking about this series, The Book of Lost Fragrances is extra-special to me because it also deals with the religious persecution of the Buddhists in China and Tibet. Reincarnation is a big part of the belief system and one that is essential to the choosing of the next Dalai Lama.

Rose has given us a strong likable protagonist in Jac, someone who is assailed by her power to “see” the past and is struggling to accept it and make sense of it. Another favourite characters in the series, Malachai Samuels make an appearance and, as always, leaves us wondering about his motivations.

Verdict

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading an adventure story about past-life memories and reincarnation. Also a great read for those interested in scents and perfumes.

Rating: 4*

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Tags: Ancient Egypt, past life, Reincarnation, religion and spiritual, The Reincarnationist series, Tibet

Mini Reviews: The Tigress of Forli and Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore

The Tigress of Forli  Renaissance Italy’s Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici by Elizabeth Lev

Genre: History/Biography

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pub date: 20 Oct 2011

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis (From GoodReads)
Wife, mother, leader, warrior: Caterina Riario Sforza was one of the most prominent women in Renaissance Italy–and one of the most vilified. In this glittering biography, Elizabeth Lev re-examines her extraordinary life and accomplishments.

Review
In this book, Lev pieces together the life and achievements of Caterina, a woman who was well-known for her courage. The accounts of Caterina Riario obviously change depending on who was writing them. When written by her admirers, we get a glowing account of her, but when written by her detractors, that is when Caterina’s notoriety comes through. Neither account can be believed entirely, just like the newspapers of today, they have an agenda. But reading between the lines, it’s clear that this was an extraordinary woman.

Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici was the illegitimate child of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, heir to the duchy of Milan. She was brought up with his other children, given a good education and lived in luxury. When she was 10, Caterina was married to 30-year-old Girolamo Riario, a military man, more importantly the pope’s nephew. For many years after this, Caterina did not really achieve much. But at the death of her husband, we see a new Caterina who fought all the odds.

Caterina Riario Sforza was a woman who was ahead of her times. Coming from a highly political family and married to a very ambitious man, Caterina was in the centre of the political turmoil at all times. In this biography, we see her grow from an innocent young woman to a wily, strong leader who would face any danger to ensure that her sons’ legacy was protected.

Through three marriages (two of them secret) wars, betrayals, imprisonment and more, we see Caterina’s extraordinary strength come to the fore. She is a fascinating characters and this biography celebrates her as a person in her own right without turning a blind eye to her faults.

Like all historical books, the sources for this story are hard to find. And analysing the politics behind the portrayal of a character by a biographer is important to ascertain prejudice and political background. While necessary, this kept taking me out of the story, fascinating though it is.

Verdict
Definitely recommended for an honest story of a fascinating woman in Renaissance Italy.

Rating: 3.75*

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy

Genre: Historical fiction

Publisher: Penguin Group USA (Penguin Books)

Pub date: 27 Sep 2011

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis (From GoodReads)
Roman historian Procopius publicly praised Theodora of Constantinople for her piety-while secretly detailing her salacious stage act and maligning her as ruthless and power hungry. So who was this woman who rose from humble beginnings as a dancer to become the empress of Rome and a saint in the Orthodox Church?

Review
Another fascinating woman from history, Theodora is not very well known. I had no knowledge of the Byzantine period either and this book introduced me to some of the issues from that time.

When we first meet Theodara, she is the daughter of a bear trainer, being trained to perform on stage. She is not very beautiful, but has that most important quality of a performer – to be able to entertain. Just as she is about to see success on the stage, she decides to follow her heart and gives up the theatre life and follows Hecebolus to Africa.

But all too soon, she has to run away from Africa and find her way back to Rome. Along the way, though, she meets Timothy who takes her under his wing. But first Theodora has to go to the desert to atone for her sins and find spiritual enlightenment. It’s not all spiritual however – Timothy has plans for Theodora which involve her and Justinian who has been chosen to rule Constantinople.

Her journey from dancer/prostitute to Empress of Rome is a fascinating one. Along the way, we also see the schism of the church and the consequences that has on politics and power games.

Verdict
Definitely recommended for a compelling story about a fascinating woman set in a turbulent time.

Rating: 3.5*

*See my Rating policy

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Tags: biography, byzantine, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici, constantinople, historical fiction, Medici, renaissance italy

Book Review: The Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Series: Moe Prager #7

Publisher: Tyrus Books

Pub date: 18 Sep 2011

Source:Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez. It seems Carmella’s estranged sister Alta has been murdered, but no one in New York City seems to care. Why? Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his own life and death struggle. Making headway on the case is no mean feat as no one, including Alta’s partner Maya Watson, wants to cooperate. Moe chips away until he discovers a cancer roiling just below the surface, a cancer whose symptoms include bureaucratic greed, sexual harassment, and blackmail. But is any of it connected to Alta’s brutal murder?

Review

Moe Prager is a brilliant character and a tenacious detective. Hurt Machine is the seventh in this series and I only wish I had met Prager eariler in, what I can only imagine was an explosive career. Not only is Prager long-retired and dealing with issues of aging, his doctor has given him a very unpleasant prognosis.

So when Carmella, his ex-wife asks him to look into this case, just weeks before his daughter’s wedding, he takes it on as a means to distract himself from the scary inevitable. Why did Alta and her partner refuse medical assistance? What were they doing at this fancy expensive restaurant? And was Alta’s murder in any way related to this incident?

The mystery itself is rather complicated and the people that Prager goes to for information are not forthcoming, The Fire Department is livid that Alta and her partner Maya have given the whole department a bad reputation. Maya Watson has broken under all the stress and the hounding by the press and is a reluctant witness. Other people that Prager digs up give him little driblets of information. On the whole, the case doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Nothing that Prager finds out seems to show Alta is a good light, and he worries about how he can tell her sister this.

As the investigation progresses, Prager finds many suspects and deals with the seedy side of life. Through the course of this investigation, Prager also deals with questions of death and hurt – the way we inflict hurt on each other and the inevitable reality of death. He finds himself thinking a lot about life, lies, hurt and death in a way that slips right in with the story.

Verdict

Highly recommended for fans of crime fiction. This story worked rather well as a stand-alone, but I suspect I would have got even more out of it if I had followed the series in order.

Rating: 4*

*See my Rating policy

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Tags: detective fiction, Moe Prager, murder mystery