The Baker's Secret: A Novel

I read this novel while visiting Normandy. It made the historical sights more relevant and gave insight into the lives of ordinary French villagers during the occupation. I recommend The Baker's Secret to ayone seeking an engrossing story set in France during World War II.

A poignant read about a pessimistic, but kind, young woman who finds clever ways to help the people of her village survive the German occupation of WWII. Remarkable character development (IMHO), such that I hated to see the book come to an end.

beautifully written and captures both the terror of German occupation as well as the joy of rescue by the Allies in WWII Normandy, France. As experienced by a female baker and whose life is upended and resists her new life in small and meaningful ways that inspired me...

Book was pretty good although I've read much better WW2 fiction novels. The book did hold my attention though. I liked the author's twist of adding an interview with the main character at the end of the book.

I cannot begin to describe the beauty of the prose in this book...to be able to tell such a terrible story in such a majestic way is truly genius. Emma’s bravery and stoicism were remarkable in every way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about life in Normandy under German occupation before D-Day. My husband's grandparents survived in occupied Holland by being part of the black market that helped feed the Dutch population in Amsterdam. This book gave me real insight into what their life was like. Highly recommended!

I love historical fiction and especially novels about WWII, so when I heard this compared to All The Light We Cannot See I eagerly purchased it. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The writing is simple and feels more like a teen or young adult novel. There’s minimal character development and the story lines often drop off suddenly or remain with strange holes. The entire time I had a strong awareness that the author was male, which was distracting as the main character is female. The author described all the female characters from a naive male’s perspective. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing. I’ve read several excellent works that dive so deep into each character that the reader wonders if the author were male or female themselves. This isn’t the case at all with a strange mention of each female’s breast size and beauty yet we don’t know much about the main character’s other features. The details about the main character’s activities are realistically inaccurate, which leaves me distrusting any other historical fiction accounts in the book. For example, the practicality and method of Emma’s baking is impossible. Virtually the entire account surrounding the caretaking and raising chickens is impossible. Last, the details about the Catholic priest, his vestaments and the portrayal of the faith is totally inaccurate and even potentially offensive. If the author isn’t going to research details such as those they must be left out to give credence to the war details, which I hope he had investigated as he reported to do.

Overall, it’s a fast and easy read. Captivating enough, but not recommendable. And DEFINITELY not in the same league as All The Light We Cannot See- that book is excellent.

I really loved "The Curiosity", so was anxious to read this. Overall, I liked this book, but had issues with it from the beginning...haven't I already read enough WWII stories and seen too many WWII movies? Probably, but the perspective of the occupied Normandy French just before and at the time of D-day was an interesting twist. The protagonist was clearly not pro-German, not a part of the underground, yet created her own passive resistance...I wonder if there were many (any) such people. The protagonist was a woman, but in many ways her independence made her seem more like a man - is this realistic? (I have a bias that often male authors don't develop realistic female characters and female authors often are terrible in developing male characters). Nonetheless a gripping story that doesn't end they way you think it might. A good read.