Bread Alone: A Novel

Judith Ryan Hendricks

ISBN 10: 0060188952 / ISBN 13: 9780060188955

Published by William Morrow, 2001

Seller Inventory # 0060188952-4-19689274

Synopsis:

For fans of Like Water for Chocolate and Woman on Top comes a deliciously magical and mouth watering story, filled with wonder, discovery, and new beginnings.

Thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison long ago gave up on finding a suitable career and drifted into the role of trophy wife to an ambitious advertising executive. After her husband decides that their marriage was a mistake Wyn leaves behind her posh, pampered life and ventures north to Seattle, spending aimless hours sipping coffee at a local bakery. As the sweet aromas of freshly-baked bread awaken memories of her apprenticeship at a French boulangerie, she feels the desire and ambition to bake bread once again.

Soon, Wyn finds--in the kneading of the dough and the scent of yeast hanging in the air--an unexpected and wondrous healing power that helps her to rediscover that nothing stays the same. Inspiring and beautifully rendered, Bread Alone is an uplifting debut novel guaranteed to warm the heart.

From the Back Cover:

A deliciously magical and mouthwatering debut, Bread Alone is the uplifting journey of a woman whose entire life changes course when her husband announces one evening that their marriage no longer works for him.

Not suited for teaching high school and hopeless at selling real estate, thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison long ago gave up trying to find a suitable career and drifted into the role of a trophy wife -- mainly to suit her husband's desires. An ambitious advertising executive, David had encouraged Wyn to spend her days among other society wives at wine tastings, French films, and trendy restaurants -- improving their social Rolodex and his array of business contacts. So, after seven years of marriage, when David informs Wyn that he feels confined and that their marriage was a mistake, she is left emotionally devastated and without direction, wondering how she let herself become so dependent.

Desperate for a change of scenery, Wyn leaves behind her posh, pampered life in Hancock Park and ventures north to Seattle, where she spends aimless hours at a local bakery, sipping coffee and inhaling the sweet aroma of freshly made bread. These visits bring back memories of her apprenticeship at a French boulangerie, when her passion for bread-making nearly led her to leave college to become a baker. Once again the desire and ambition to bake bread consumes Wyn's thoughts, and when offered a position at the bakery, Wyn quickly accepts, grateful for the comfort of a routine.

Arriving at the bakery just before midnight and working long hours among the bakery's cluster of eclectic women -- Linda, the irascible bread baker; earth mother Ellen and her partner Diane; Tyler, the blue-haired barista -- Wyn awakens to the truths that she missed while living the good life in Hancock Park. And soon she discovers that making bread -- the kneading of the dough, the heat from the ovens -- possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power, helping her to rediscover that nothing stays the same: bread rises, pain fades, the heart heals, and the future beckons.

Inspiring and beautifully rendered , Bread Alone is an uplifting debut novel -- dusted in the gentlest of magic, full of humor, and guaranteed to warm the heart.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Bread Alone: A Novel
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 2001
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fair