Corinna Chapman was once a high profile accountant and
banker. That is until she walked out on the money market and
her dismissive and unpleasant husband James, threw aside her
briefcase, and doffed her kitten heels forever. Now she is a
baker working in her own business, Earthly Delights, in
Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Australia.
Corinna is living in
an eccentric building on the Roman model called Insula,
which has eight stories, sixteen apartments, and a lot of
strange and interesting people. These include a retired
professor of classics, Dionysius Monk; a Dutch gardener
named Trudi; Mr. and Mrs. Pemberthy and their rotten little
doggie, Traddles; a pair of disgustingly thin, would-be
soapie stars Goss and Kylie; and a jobbing witch, Meroe of
The Sibyl's Cave.
Corinna is quite content with her cat
Horatio and her shop until a junkie falls half dead on her
grate, a gorgeous sabra stalks along her alley and tells her
that she is beautiful, and she starts receiving threatening
letters accusing her of being a scarlet woman. Then it
is Goths, lost girls, fraud, late nights, nerds, and
beautiful slaves. Life for Corinna has suddenly become
interesting. And she still needs to get her bread out in
time for the morning rush....