The Baker's Daughter: A Novel [Paperback]

Elsie Schmidt is 16 years old and the youngest daughter of a baker in Garmisch Germany. The year is 1944 and the Third Reich and Hitler rule Germany. While war is everywhere Elsie and her family are kept safe by an older well connected soldier who has feelings for Elsie. Her older sister,Hazel, was engaged to another soldier and has a son from that relationship. She now lives and has children in the Lebensborn program, imagine a sanctioned place for sex to create a perfect Aryan nation, she has also had twins.
One Christmas Eve changes everything for Elsie. She went to the first adult party and dance of her life, and while she should have been enjoying her new dress and date, the evening was marred by the actions of a brutal Nazi officer. Elsie returned home very shaken up that night, an engagement ring on her finger, and she discovered a shocking surprise behind her home..........
In El Paso TX Reba Adams is a journalist searching a unique twist on a Christmas feature she's writing. The year is 2007. Her search for traditions around the world lead her to Elsie's German Bakery. Reba feels her own life is upside down. She's engaged to Riki, a border patrol officer, she's running from her own family past, and she's certain El Paso is not where she wants to settle. Reba finds much more than her story when she meets Elsie and her daughter Jane.

This book is really the story of Elsie and Reba, two young women, separated by 63 years, but facing similar life altering choices in their lives. I fell in love with Elsie immediately, her heart so pure, so honest and always thinking of her family and how each move she makes will impact them. She grows up so quickly, because of the war, because of her situation, and her childhood is over. She adores her parents, and she keeps their traditions and the art of baking close to her.
Loving Reba was only a little harder. Her young life wasn't easy, and she didn't have that strong family support system to lift her up. I think I wanted her to question her life with Riki less, but of course Sarah McCoy knows how to weave this story, and I should never have doubted her.

Trying to give a synopsis of this book is not easy, and yet I want to put it into my own words. Simply put this book is beautiful and heart breaking. The back and forth in the story is done so very well. I was excited to read each story, anxious to see how they would progress, and eventually intertwine. The historical research is accurate and so strikingly frightening. I must say this second novel far exceeded my expectations, I won't soon forget these characters and their story.
I've given this book 4.5 out of 5 stars, and if you love history, love stories, or a story of love over hate, this book will stir in your heart for a long time.

There is a strong story in this book, but there should have been two strong stories. Ms. McCoy intersects the lives of Elsie and her daughter Jane who own a bakery in El Paso, Texas, with reporter Reba and her sometime fiance Riki, a border patrol agent.

Elsie was a teenager during WWII. An ordinary German girl caught up in what were not ordinary times. She did not understand the politics of Hitler, she only knew what she was told at home. One night after coming home from her first ball with an officer of the Reich a young Jewish boy appears on her doorstep. Suddenly what she has been told about Jews conflicts with the starving child in front of her. How can this skinny boy be evil?

Elsie changes that night in many ways and those changes carry her forward through the war and into her new life in America. She always remains a baker though, finding comfort and power in the ritual and constancy of flour and yeast.

Reba grew up in a household with a father forever changed by his experiences in war. He came back unable to deal with life and created an abusive environment in the house. Her sister ignored it and escaped, her mother just dealt with it but nobody talked about it leaving Reba unable to form a lasting relationship with any man; including the man she said she would marry, Riki. Riki, a legal Hispanic man is very conflicted about the illegal aliens and had found his work with the Border Patrol fulfilling until a young boy is accidentally killed. He starts rethinking his priorities as Reba calls off the engagement and moves away.

Elsie's story was definitely more compelling than Reba's. It had much more depth and was told with more attention to detail than Reba's. It was almost as if Reba's was a filled in afterthought. She was not very likable as a character and I just couldn't feel much for her one way or the other. I truly didn't care. I wanted MORE of Elsie and much more of Jane! And I feel as if their stories were given a hatchet job to try and tie a relevant bow around Reba and Elsie.

It wasn't the worst book I have ever read but it wasn't one I read with lots of enthusiasm either.

The Baker's Daughter was not what I expected it to be, not really at all. For one thing, I thought the story would focus on Elsie, which, if you consider the main character the person who most of the pages are focused on, she would be. Really, though, the tale seems to be more about Elsie's affect on others, as viewed through the lens of Reba.

This device works incredibly powerfully. Elsie had a great impact on many lives, but, by using Reba as the frame story, McCoy is able to bring in additional themes and commentaries in a natural manner. The story could have been told from the perspective of Tobias just as easily, but I think something would ultimately have been lost. By incorporating Reba into the tale, McCoy is able to draw connections between Nazi Germany, the Vietnam War and the border wars between the U.S. and Mexico.

McCoy tells the story primarily using an omniscient narrator, who follows along with the perspective of one character at a time, but there are also epistolary sections. With this combination of formats, the reader follows along with a handful of characters. What makes this so impressive is that every character was likable, though flawed--especially Reba. They all had unique voices and interesting tales to tell.

The Baker's Daughter left me feeling full of hope and inspiration. McCoy's is a message of hope and the triumph of the human spirit over tragedy, so long as you face up to your fears. I suggest reading prepared; if you don't have any fresh bread or cake from a bakery, you are going to be super hungry!