The City Baker's Guide to Country Living

June 20, 2016
At the outset of Miller’s endearing debut, 32-year-old pastry chef Olivia Rawlings loses her job after she drops a tray of baked Alaska and starts a fire at the prestigious Boston club where she works. In need of comfort, she heads to Guthrie, Vt., to visit her best friend, Hannah Doyle, who lands her a job at the nearby Sugar Maple, a picturesque inn owned by the stern yet protective Margaret Hurley. As Olivia adjusts to her new life, her growing attachment to Margaret’s friends, the McCrackens—especially Martin, the fiddle-playing son—prompts her return to banjo and folk music. But even as she settles in and joins a contra dance band, she struggles to navigate the secrets, gossip, and long-held animosities that animate the town. Miller, a pastry chef herself, writes about food with vivid detail, but her rhythmic prose is even crisper when her interests converge: “From the stage you could see the lattice pattern the dances made, the couples weaving in and out like fluted strips of piecrust.” Miller also excels at characterization, revealing her protagonist’s complex pasts in subtle ways. Even minor characters such as Alfred, Olivia’s coworker at the Sugar Maple, and Henry, the ailing McCracken patriarch, are sharply drawn and memorable. Throughout, the novel’s empathetic spirit and unhurried pace allow it to grapple with grief, family, and belonging, while keeping the focus on Olivia’s difficult decisions. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners.

You'll be craving a hearty wedge of apple pie by the time you finish listening to this breezy story about how Olivia Rawlings, an award-winning pastry chef to Boston's social elite, reinvents herself as the dessert baker for a Vermont country inn. The audiobook provides a comfortable stage for narrator Jorjeana Marie's impressive ability to spice up dialogue with a good measure of the characters' personalities. Listeners will sense the kindness hidden beneath the crustiness of the elderly inn owner as well as the insecurities that underlie Olivia's emotional connections with her new neighbors. When Olivia isn't mixing up a batch of fruity breakfast scones, she's practicing her banjo, walking in the crisp New England woods, and maybe even cooking up a little romance. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine