For fans of Like Water for Chocolate and Woman on Top comes a deliciously magical and mouth watering story, filled with wonder, discovery, and new beginnings. Thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison long ago gave up on finding a suitable career and drifted into the role of trophy wife to an ambitious advertising executive. After her husband decides that their marriage was a mistake Wyn leaves behind … their marriage was a mistake Wyn leaves behind her posh, pampered life and ventures north to Seattle, spending aimless hours sipping coffee at a local bakery. As the sweet aromas of freshly-baked bread awaken memories of her apprenticeship at a French boulangerie, she feels the desire and ambition to bake bread once again.
Soon, Wyn finds–in the kneading of the dough and the scent of yeast hanging in the air–an unexpected and wondrous healing power that helps her to rediscover that nothing stays the same. Inspiring and beautifully rendered, Bread Alone is an uplifting debut novel guaranteed to warm the heart.
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An ok book. Not great but not bad either.
Women’s fiction is not a genre that I generally read, and I started out not liking this book at all. Wynter, a thirty-one year old woman who’d been married seven years, was adrift emotionally to the point that she refused to accept that her husband David wanted to end their marriage. She was shocked to come home one day to find her belongings dumped on the front steps and the door locks changed. The book didn’t really catch my full attention until Wynter moved to Seattle to live near her best friend, CM. Finally Wynter started to mature, got a job, made friends, was true to herself. The author used flashbacks of the time Wynter spent as a bakery apprentice in France to help develop the character. Wynter slowly starts to see the real world, especially in relation to her parents, and to accept that her life is empty and aimless. In the end, the book was worth reading.
Reading Bread Alone will give you that same warm and peaceful feeling you get the moment you catch the scent of newly baked bread. Inhale deeply. In this novel, the main character Wynter is faced with her husband’s unexpected announcement that their marriage is over. Wynter is at a life-altering point.
She moves from Los Angeles to Seattle, where most of the novel takes place. You’ll delight in reading about our familiar sights and culture. She tries to analyze her life situation and make some decisions while sitting daily as a customer at a small bakery she discovers. Destiny steps in and Wynter ends up gratefully accepting an offered job there.
The bakery at the forefront of this novel is inspired by our own Seattle Macrina Bakery. I certainly recommend a road trip to Macrina to experience this incredible bakery first hand. If you’re a baker yourself, I recommend that you add yourself to their email distribution to receive their yummy recipes.
The main character’s journey is a page turner, and you’ll enjoy the characters surrounding her. The author skillfully gives you glimpses into those characters’ own compelling journeys as well. They are all learning to knead and shape their futures. “When you’re ready to go out to the deep water, you have to dive into the wave. If you wait for it to come to you, it’s going to knock you on your keister.” As an added treat to the story line, the author includes all kinds of tried and true delicious recipes. If you’re not a baker now, you’ll certainly be inspired by this book to start baking bread.
And if you find this novel’s slice of life leaving you wanting more, you can read the wonderful sequel The Baker’s Apprentice. Food talk, confidences, friendships, romance, and recipes, what more could you ask for in a sequel? You’ll enjoy reading about the new turns Wynter’s life takes, and also the lives of the other characters. This sequel introduces interesting new characters too. “You think you’ve put things behind you, but the problem is you’ve put nothing in front of you.”
Judith Hendricks began her writing career at the age of 50. About these two novels she has said that bread is a metaphor for daily life. It’s really the strong who survive in this world and that’s what you learn from knocking down the bread. You punch it down so it can rise up again.
Great escapist book about a woman who is jolted out of her marriage, finds herself in baking and being creative, and falls in love again with a man who truly appreciates her as she is.
Enjoyable pandemic reading. Will want you to pull out the bread pans and give it a try.
This was an easy read. Sadly in today’s world many women are having to start over alone for a variety of reasons, and that is the case in this story. As the main character faces a new beginning, she makes friends, tries things that she always wanted to do, but didn’t do. She finds that money is not the key to happiness. It was a relaxing book to read. As she worked through her anger, she was able to let go of all the things others told her “she should do” and seek her own future.
I enjoy a woman’s success story after divorce.
Delightful characters display the drive to survive during extremely difficult circumstances.
Great summer read
Made me want to bake bread.
Great descriptions of Seattle; characters I really get involved with and care about!
The book was totally a waste of time. No resolution. No redeeming theme. Insipid
Great bread recipes. I actually bought the stuff to make bread!
I am living out of the country right now, and I wanted to read a story set in my home state of Washington. This book didn’t disappoint. The recipes in the book and the connection to the living nature of bread made me actually want to cook.
Had trouble keeping the characters straight!
I am still reading this book and I just love it!
Aloof topics in this book. Mother_daughter relationship.
Divorce, dating again, starting over. But most of all I love learning about Bread!
Such fun and I like the recipes provided. Great book folks.
I loved the characters in this book! Couldn’t stop reading it, what a great story!
This book is thought provoking. It has a happy ending, but it gets there on a less than usual road.
Loved the characters, good read..
It was a good and interesting read. The main character could be annoying with some of her decisions, but she grew a lot with her experiences, and it was satisfying at the end.