So it’s no secret based on my GR read list that I books
involving WWII and the Holocaust is a Genre that I enjoy reading. I think its
goes back to my childhood and growing up In Germany.
Anyway, that background leads me to The Baker’s Daughter by
Sarah McCoy. Another book I learned about while on GR, and by an author whose
previous work- The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico, I enjoyed.
Once I learn that a book is about the Holocaust, I tend to
not read the descriptions because I’ve found that it makes me compare books to
others and I like reading with a fresh slate.
The Baker’s Daughter is written in the same tone as others
such as Sarah’s
Key and Those
Who Save Us, in that it parallel’s two story lines- one present day and one
in Europe during the 1940’s. This particular story focuses on Elise, a young
teenaged girl goring up during the last months of the war. The daughter of a
Baker, her family struggles under a crippling war and rations that threaten
what’s left of their livelihood. Elsie’s older sister is away in the Nazi’s Lebensborn
Program ( which I never heard about until reading this book) and it interesting
to see a factious Pro-Nazi account ( even if it was only briefly).
The current day story involves Elsie as and the elderly
co-owner of a German Bakery in Texas with her daughter when journalist Reeba
walks in to write an article on her. Reba’s story follows her love-affair with
an Immigration and Customs official and her struggle to understand her family.
I was much more interested in Elsie’s story than Reba’s but
found Reba an enjoyable character. I just struggled to place her within the
context of the story and felt that Riki’s full story would probably be a better
tie-in with the overall story in terms of Riki’s struggle with his job. I was a
little worried that when his job was instructed there would be a parallel between that and what was happening in Elsie’s
story, but there wasn’t.
I really enjoyed this story, again Elsie’s much more than
Reba’s and I think this book is a great addition to my shelves. I would recommend
this to anyone that enjoys this “genre” as well as to those who enjoyed Sarah’s
Key and Those
Who Save Us.
