Book Tour & GIVEAWAY: 'The Baker’s Daughter' by Sarah McCoy

The Baker’s Daughter

by Sarah McCoy

Crown Publishers

Pub. Date:   August 14, 2012 (Paperback)

Book received from: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

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Genre:  Historical Fiction/Contemporary Fiction

Cover:  It’s alright, but  I felt there could have been a much more representative cover

Characters:  Half great, half flat

Worth the read?  Sure- if you like fiction centered around the Nazi Germany era

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The Baker’s Daughter is written in two storylines, one in Nazi Germany and one today.  The Nazi Germany storyline centers around Elsie, a naïve teenager whose family is among the Nazi sympathizers.  She is being courted by a member of the Army of the Third Reich when she is confronted with a Jewish boy in need of help on her doorstep one night.  She is then faced with many difficult decisions and changes that she much face.

The modern storyline follows a reporter, Reba, who is engaged to a U.S. Border Patrol agent.  When Reba is assigned to do a spotlight on the bakery that Elsie and her daughter own in El Paso, she finds that it becomes a much more personal venture than she could have ever imagined.  Reba begins to look at the issues of immigration much more in depth than before, which causes obvious conflict within her relationship.

This is one of those books that I was expecting great things from, based on all the hype around it.  Throughout, I kept waiting for it to be great- waiting for that ‘a-ha!’ moment.  However, it never came for me.  I found myself very split with this story.  The story of Elsie was compelling and interesting, and kept me wanting to skip back to her parts, while Reba’s story fell flat and was actually kind of bland and annoying at times.  I could not get myself to like Reba, or to ever sympathize with her story, and was left with no connection in the end.  Elsie, however, is memorable in many ways.

The Baker’s Daughter is an interesting read from the historical angle, but I felt that the connections between timelines was strained and unnecessary.  It would have had such a great impact to expand on Elsie’s story, rather that distract with the current day.  I understand that McCoy was trying to make a connection between immigrants then and immigrant now, but in many ways, I found it to be almost offensive to compare the two.  Yes, immigration is still an issue, but there are different reasons driving the issues today than in the times of Nazi Germany.  To compare the two experiences seems to devalue the importance of the atrocities which were happening at the hands of Hitler.   Maybe I am reading too much into it, and that is not what the author meant at all, but that is my take on the underlying storyline.

I am in no way saying not to read this book.  There have been many great reviews, and there is sure to be something of value that can be gained by reading of the characters’ experiences.  For me, it was so-so, but for you, it could be the next best thing.

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The publisher has generously offered a copy of ‘The Baker’s Daughter’ for one lucky reader.  To be entered, simply comment below & tell me what appeals to you about this read, with your e-mail address in the comment.   

Must be at least 17-years-old and live in the US/CAN.  I will pick a winner by random September 10, 2012.

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Check out the entire blog tour calendar.

‘The Baker’s Daughter’ can be purchased at Amazon.com, as well as your local independent bookseller.

For more about Sarah McCoy, go to her website here.