THE BAKER'S SECRET is the BEST book I have read in 2018.
From the lovely cover, to the first page and to the finale,
I was not able to put it down. What a charismatic and truly
brave heroine! Emmanuelle, .a.k.a Emma is 22, courageous,
spunky, and determined. In the spring of 1944, the war has
been raging for four years. The small french village of
Vergers has been occupied by the Germans who are cruel,
unfeeling, and determined to break the citizens under their
control. Strict rationing and curfews are in effect and
visits from the German soldiers never bring anything but
pain and sorrow.
Emma has been an apprentice in the local bakery for her
critical mentor, Uncle Ezra. He is forced to wear the Star
of David on his lapel. One day he is dragged out of his
store by German soldiers, taken to the public square and
shot, because he is a Jew. Her boyfriend, Philippe, was
conscripted into the German Army and her father put on a
train, never to return. She lived and cared for her
grandmother, Meme, old but wise. One day the Kommandant
smelled the bread baking and stopped to taste it. He orders
Emma to bake 12 loaves for his officers every day. Given
the precise amount of flour to bake a dozen loaves, Emma
grinds dried grass into the mix so that she can stretch the
recipe to add two additional loaves. She keeps those two
and distributes them to her starving friends and neighbors
and Meme.
Emma then begins a secret network to exchange or barter for
anything that will help her countrymen. She siphons gas
from the soldier's trucks or motorcycles, and gives it to
the fisherman. He gives fresh fish to Emma to distribute in
return. Tobacco, even a light bulb are "found" and passed
on. She "borrows" a few chickens from the local priest and
breeds them with her rooster and when the chicks are born,
Emma secrets them away until they lay eggs. She then
distributes the eggs. Emma works hard, takes many dangerous
chances. Her one woman underground trading market keeps her
neighbors going, and Emma becomes the local hero, a step
ahead of the German occupiers.
Stephen P. Kiernan writes a heart breaking novel that
brilliantly weaves historical facts into a fiction that will
captivate you. He describes the Vergers' longing to be
free again but their feelings of hopelessness as they plod
from one day to the next, waiting for the Allies and help.
His depiction of the dramatic D-Day invasion on the Normandy
shores is spectacular. His characters, whose human spirit
to survive and overcome the most tragic of circumstances
will touch your heart and have you cheering as the Allied
forces come to their rescue. THE BAKER'S SECRET is a
fabulous book that
is very uplifting. Bravo, Mr. Kiernan, you are at the top of my
list of favorite authors! I like your style!
From the multiple-award-winning, critically acclaimed author
of The Hummingbird and The Curiosity comes
a dazzling novel of World War II—a shimmering tale of
courage, determination, optimism, and the resilience of the
human spirit, set in a small Normandy village on the eve of
D-Day.
On June 5, 1944, as dawn rises over a small town on the
Normandy coast of France, Emmanuelle is making the bread
that has sustained her fellow villagers in the dark days
since the Germans invaded her country.
Only twenty-two, Emma learned to bake at the side of a
master, Ezra Kuchen, the village baker since before she was
born. Apprenticed to Ezra at thirteen, Emma watched with
shame and anger as her kind mentor was forced to wear the
six-pointed yellow star on his clothing. She was likewise
powerless to help when they pulled Ezra from his shop at
gunpoint, the first of many villagers stolen away and never
seen again.
In the years that her sleepy coastal village has suffered
under the enemy, Emma has silently, stealthily fought back.
Each day, she receives an extra ration of flour to bake a
dozen baguettes for the occupying troops. And each day, she
mixes that precious flour with ground straw to create enough
dough for two extra loaves—contraband bread she shares with
the hungry villagers. Under the cold, watchful eyes of armed
soldiers, she builds a clandestine network of barter and
trade that she and the villagers use to thwart their occupiers.
But her gift to the village is more than these few crusty
loaves. Emma gives the people a taste of hope—the faith that
one day the Allies will arrive to save them.
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