Stones for Bread

September 16, 2013
Like a loaf of artisanal bread fresh from the oven, Parrish’s adult coming-of-age tale of love and forgiveness set in present-day Vermont is complex and rich with spiritual nourishment, fragrant with the author’s passion for the subject, and yet “a little too dense.” Liesl McNamara is a woman whose life is devoted to bread and her bakery, Wild Rise, far from her tragic past. Until a new flour delivery man, Seamus, and his daughter, Cecelia, drift into her life, she is content with her modest lot. Their arrival, however, opens her eyes to the possibilities of family and change—especially when Liesl is invited to compete in a televised baking competition. As complicated as the recipe for a yeasted sticky bun, Liesl’s tale alternately confuses and delights with past-tense flashbacks to her youth and educational lessons on bread and religion peppering the present-tense narrative. Detailed recipes for novices and master bakers alike round out this challenging, yet satisfying, creation. Agent: William Jensen, William K. Jensen Literary Agency.

November 1, 2013
Liesl McNamara has long used her family's tradition of baking bread as her way of hiding from the world. When she's in the kitchen of her bakery, she can tune out everything but the loaves she's creating. This works for a time, but eventually the world starts to push through. When Liesl meets her new delivery man, Seamus, and his precocious daughter, Cecilia, she can't help but become emotionally attached. Because of the pain her mother caused their family when Liesl was young, however, she's extremely hesitant to engage in a meaningful relationship. When one of her employees enters her in a TV competition, though, Liesl finds herself almost unwillingly turning to Seamus as she deals with the ever-mounting pressures of her newly publicized life. In Parrish's (The Air We Breathe, 2012) beautifully written novel, the vitality of close relationships is powerfully depicted in Liesl's struggle to let go of her past and embrace the future right in front of her. Readers will definitely relate to her struggle of faith and confidence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)