The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan #stephenpkiernan #williammorrow #worldwar2 #france @absltmom

Can we, living in a country that is free and enjoying that freedom ever really comprehend the terror, the hardship, and the awfulness of having a world war come to your door? For Emma and the people who lived in this coastal town off the Normandy coast, this was their life, a life described in the book

Having read many books revolving around the theme of war, I am constantly amazed by the resiliency of the people who lived during that time. This story of Emma and those who surrounded her was a tale of courage, of the fact that people often find a way to fight tyranny even from the comfort of their small village. The setting was a small time frame before the D day invasion and the theme was about people who created many ways to fight their German oppressors. For Emma, her   people who created many ways to fight their German oppressors. For Emma, her way was to bake bred adding straw to the dough in order to fool the Germans and be able to provide two loaves a day to the starving villagers. For others, it was through joining the Resistance and though their lives were often in danger and the threat o death hung over their heads, they carried on. Emma doesn’t stop just with her baking of bread. She devises a plan to help the villagers and at risk to her own life does her part to never acquiesce to the captors.

This was a story of courage, of a zeal to find oneself never really a captive of an oppressive enemy. Providing hope and that ability to see a future where things would be better kept these people moving forward. They typified what is so strong in the human nature, that ability to look towards freedom as a life’s goal. “No deception lasts forever. Truth rises like good bread dough.” For Emma, for all who have lived through the ravages of war, that truth is ever present, and the seeking of freedom is never lost.

As Ken Follett once wrote “World War II is the greatest drama in human history, the biggest war ever and a true battle of good and evil. I imagine writers will continue to get stories from it, and readers will continue to love them, for many more years”

Stephen Kiernan is a former newspaper journalist who has written three novels (The Baker’s Secret, The Hummingbird, The Curiosity) and two books of nonfiction (Last Rights, Authentic Patriotism). With rights of his books purchased for TV and film production, and novels translated into many languages, his work has won more than 40 awards. He lives in Vermont with his two amazing sons.