Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread: A Novel

List Price: $25.00

Hardcover: 400 pages

Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 5, 2011)

Language: English

From the publisher: An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated.  One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make thebread herself, and a request to share it with others.

Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She’d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread.

When Julia meets two newcomers to the small town of Avalon, Illinois, she sparks a connection by offering them her extra bread starter. Widow Madeline Davis is laboring to keep her tea salon afloat while Hannah Wang de Brisay, a famed concert cellist, is at a crossroads, her career and marriage having come to an abrupt end. In the warm kitchen of Madeline’s tea salon, the three women forge a friendship that will change their lives forever.

In no time, everyone in Avalon is baking Amish Friendship Bread. But even as the town unites for a benevolent cause and Julia becomes ever closer to her new friends, she realizes the profound necessity of confronting the painful past she shares with her sister.

About life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, Friendship Bread tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens.

My take: When I heard this book was up for review, I'm pretty sure I was first in line to request it.  Why? Because I'm familiar with Ms. Gee's work - I've read all of her "Mia King" novels (even reviewed one on this site at one point) and love-love-love her work.  Friendship Bread was no exception.  From the very first page she drew me into the lives of these women - all of which were leading lives I could relate to.  Julia is reeling from an unimaginable loss, Hannah was betrayed in an all too familiar way and Madeline's particular estrangement is something I have experienced as well.  I think that is Ms. Gee's gift in all her novels - she writes about women we can all relate to and so want to keep reading to find out the ending of the tale (for both the characters and for us I suppose).  Their stories are riveting, and the mystery behind the origins of this particular batch of friendship bread is revealed in a beautiful ending.  My copy of the book came with the recipe for Amish Friendship Bread, but there are also several variations of the famous bread printed in the book itself.  I think I'm going to have to make some bread starter and see if I can make some very human, very necessary connections to the people around me as well.  Well done Ms. Gee.  A very satisfying book I will be reading again, hopefully with a slice of Friendship Bread in hand! 

About the author:  Darien Gee lives in Hawaii with her husband and three children. She is also the author of three novels under the name Mia King (Sweet Life, Table Manners, and Good Things). To learn more about Darien and the inspiration behind FRIENDSHIP BREAD, visit her at www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com.

This post was written for Family Review Network and Ballantine Books who provided the complimentary book for review in exchange for my honest review.