The Baker’s Secret
Stephen Kiernan
2017, 309 pages
Fiction
During World War II in a small village in Normandy, Emmanuelle (Emma) the baker wakes every morning to bake bread for the German occupying force. Emma’s secret is that she’s found a way to stretch the batter of the loaves. This way she can bake 14 loaves instead of 12, and give the other two to the starving people. She thinks of clever ways to help the others in her village, starts a covert barter system and even raises chickens for their eggs, carefully hidden in the forest. She doesn’t believe that the Allies will ever come to save them, but she struggles on. At one point she thinks to herself that she must go on, that one way to measure her worth is by how many people would die if she gives up.
The Germans make the villagers suffer horribly, but Emma and the townspeople have small triumphs as they secretly fight back. This book is beautifully written and has a vivid sense of place.
But what struck me most about this tale are the extraordinary characters of Emma and her grandmother Mémé. You’ll want to read this book to meet them; they are two of the most loyal and courageous characters I’ve ever encountered.
Robbin Bailey Concord Public Library
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