Bread Alone - Tapa dura

Thirty-one-year-old Wyn (short for Wynter) Morrison has drifted into the role of trophy wife, largely to please her husband David whom she loves. But what does a trophy wife do when, suddenly and rudely, she is told that her services are no longer required? Wyn, desperately unhappy and with no marketable skills other than a stint as a baker in France as a student, moves from California to rainy Seattle where her best friend lives. There she gets a job baking bread on the night shift and rents a temporary lodging. At first she¿s going through the motions of living her strange existence, clocking into the bakery at 11.30 each night, working till 7 and sleeping the day away. But gradually she beds herself in, makes friends, transforms her little house from a bleak rental to a home, rediscovers her calling as a baker and, in her halting attempts to build a new life, she opens herself up to the possibility of loving and being loved again.

This novel is perfectly judged. There is real pain, but always leavened with humour. The baking/healing analogy is lightly done. There is no easy solution to life after David. Wyn must struggle back up the hard way, relying on her own strength of character, though it takes her a while to recognise that she has any. The final plus is that Hendricks¿ writing is a joy to read ¿ sensuous, lyrical and true.