Book Review: “Little Beach Street Bakery” by Jenny Colgan

Polly lives in a world where phones are always chirping with calls, texts, emails, and other random notifications. Everyone is a gluten free gym addict who believes carbs are pure evil. On top of that daily nonsense, Polly also lives in one of the most depressing economic times, which leaves her single and bankrupt on her best friend’s overly luxurious couch.

She ends up moving to a tidal wave island, which is a secluded island with very little access to what Polly considers to be the real world by her definition a place with 24/7 access to anything just a ring away. When the tidal wave comes onto shore everyone in the town is pretty much stuck until it dies down, sometimes without electricity. When Polly officially moves in she quickly recognizes she is unwelcome in this tightknit community. Nobody thinks she will last more than a weekend in this town but she isn’t planning to overstay her welcome anyway. She just needs a few months to re-group from losing everything in her life all at once.

Even though she feels unwelcome Polly is still content having moved into her fantasy world where all her problems are going to wash away with the tidal wave. After a few days she realizes that instead her worries being washed away they seem to be merely replaced with new ones. Her constant struggle is still money but her biggest dilemma deals with her favorite hobby, bread. She loves baking breads of all styles and flavors. Unfortunately when she was living in the city nobody would eat her bread. Some of her friends pretended to be gluten free while others wouldn’t risk the carbs, so she stopped baking altogether. When she came to her new home she couldn’t wait to start baking again, this time using only organic and fresh ingredients. Everything was going splendidly until she made one too many loafs one day and offered them to some of the fishermen who helped her move in. This shouldn’t be a problem but the fishermen’s usual baker was the community baker and Polly’s landlord who was not Polly’s fan to begin with and now she is hyped up on anger when she finds out Polly has been baking as well.

Living in this remote island was definitely a struggle for the newly independent Polly but finding her niche and a few friends throughout her journey helped her fall in love with her new self. Soon enough this temporary getaway started to slowly fill her heart with the nestling feeling of home, safety, and happiness.

This story gave me a realistic view of life with all the struggles and a hint of hope and happiness if risks are taken. So give “Little Beach Street Bakery” by Jenny Colgan a chance and don’t forget to grab your copy in March 2015.