By Bread Alone by Sarah-Kate Lynch

This book surprised me with it's substance.  It took me a while to read the first couple of chapters, and I judged it incorrectly.  When I finally dove in, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story.  I don't like when authors' hold a key plot line over your head for chapter after chapter the way the family tragedy was kept a secret in this book.  But I will say that the way it is revealed felt perfect and realistic.

The home that Esme is living in now is a tower.  Each bedroom is on a different floor, and it is called the "House in the Clouds."  I think this is also symbolic of the different layers of the story.  Esme bakes bread every morning, and it makes her happy.  When the book begins, she has stopped baking it and her family is worried.  Her family is fun and quirky, an almost too good to be true husband, a 4 1/2 year old son, her grandma that raised her, her father-in-law and a dog.  Of course they all add something unique to the book.  The current story is speckled with Esme's flashbacks of the summer she fell in love and learned to bake pain au levian. 

I'll warn you that the flash-back-bread-making (love-making) scenes are more risque than I like to read.  They are few and brief, so I finished this up, but I don't want to shock anyone.

The descriptions of the bread, however, are mouthwatering, and I am interesting in seeking out other books by Sara-Kate Lynch.  There are also hilarious moments, like getting gum stuck in her hair, a quince bouncing down the stairs, or the blinding of the goat.  I could see thisstory adapted into a successful movie.

I liked the way the book unfolds and ultimately the insight that Esme gains.

I recommend this hesitantly, because of the reason I mentioned above and some conversations she has with an old friend that are a little crude.