The Baker's Daughter

By: Sarah McCoy

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

In 1945, Elsie Schmidt is a naive teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she is for her first kiss. She and her family have been protected from the worst of the terror and desperation overtaking her country by a high-ranking Nazi who wishes to marry her. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsie’s doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door would put all she loves in danger.

Sixty years later, in El Paso, Texas, Reba Adams is trying to file a feel-good Christmas piece for the local magazine. Reba is perpetually on the run from memories of a turbulent childhood, but she’s been in El Paso long enough to get a full-time job and a fianc, Riki Chavez. Riki, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, finds comfort in strict rules and regulations, whereas Reba feels that lines are often blurred.

Reba’s latest assignment has brought her to the shop of an elderly baker across town. The interview should take a few hours at most, but the owner of Elsie’s German Bakery is no easy subject. Reba finds herself returning to the bakery again and again, anxious to find the heart of the story. For Elsie, Reba’s questions are a stinging reminder of darker times: her life in Germany during that last bleak year of WWII. And as Elsie, Reba, and Riki’s lives become more intertwined, all are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths of the past and seek out the courage to forgive.

©2012 Sarah McCoy (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Struggled with this one

I found it slow. There was so much build up. I really couldn't get through it. I really do enjoyed The Mapmaker and was hoping this would be as good but it didn't have the same feel that pulls you into the story.

Not sure

Narration was good. I like past and present stories. Things get tied up nice and neat. But I’m scratching my head wondering if the author really meant to compare the Holocaust to modern day illegal aliens crossing the southern border of the US. It’s like comparing fruits and nuts. Not even close! I think most people will enjoy this book though.

Fascinating & Pointless

There were 2 stories in this book: “Elsie’s Story” the tale of a baker’s daughter set in Germany during WW2, and “Reba’s story” our modern day protagonist – a journalist living in El Paso Texas where Elsie lives in the present.

I enjoy stories set in Europe in the 30s and 40s; the experiences fascinate me. I am always drawn to novels set during that tumultuous time in our history and this one was particularly interesting because I learned about the Lebensborn Association, which I had surprisingly never hear of up until now.

Elsie’s story was terrific. I loved it. Alternatively I found Reba’s story so completely pointless and unnecessary, that it was just a distraction from the overall tone of the novel.

What was the purpose?? If the intention was to help readers link events in the present to those in the past (a-la history repeating itself) I think it all fell flat. Her father’s atrocities in Vietnam in 60s and the crimes committed by Nazis in the 40s or the plight of Mexican immigrants in the 90s and Jews fleeing from Europe in the 30s… it all felt so contrived!! … not to mention futile. Also, I found the laughably weak pretext of Reba “writing an article” in order to get her story line to intersect with Elsie’s so thin that it practically evaporated.

If you could somehow completely excise Reba’s story from the book, then I could have easy given it 5 stars but as it was it was too disappointing to rate over a 3.

Two intertwining stories

What did you like best about this story?

I liked Elsie's story much better than Reba's; I couldn't understand Reba's motivations, but Elsie's progression was natural.

Any additional comments?

I do agree with one reviewer that Reba as a character was really self-involved, and I couldn't understand why Ricky would put up with her. I loved Elsie as a character, because she cut through all the crap and got right down to business.
Elisabeth Rodgers was a good narrator, though I found her German pronunciation was clunky in places.

This is a worthwhile read, intertwining, bittersweet, and well-done.

Great story

I was worried that there is going to be gruesome World War II theme but there were none. It was just a great compelling story with excellence team of how we tend to hide the truth, that during the war and in our lives today. I recommended.

Should've been shorter

I really enjoyed most of the book but it was rather long and drawn out. If it would have ended about 3/4 the way through it would have been much better. Elsie's story was good, Ruby's was mediocre.

Decent story ruined by the performer.

What made the experience of listening to The Baker's Daughter the most enjoyable?

The alternating between two character and two different times in history was very effective.

Would you be willing to try another one of Elisabeth Rodgers’s performances?

No. Never. I found her performance to be overly dramatic. Enough with the high school drama school voices. Just read the story, for crying out loud. If you can't do accents that sound authentic, please don't do them at all.

Wonderful Story

I loved this story. It taught me a lot about what really happens in Germany during the war from an angle I had no idea existed. I never wanted to stop reading all the way through.

Decent Book

I really enjoyed Elsie's story. I thought it was fascinating. I would give those sections of the book 5 stars. I just couldn't get into the character of Reba, though. She annoyed me to no end and after a short while I found it torture listening to her sections of the book. I found her story boring and rather pointless.

Loved the parallel stories

I noticed the parallels between Nazi Germany's politics and the politics of current day US immigration policies. Deporting one group of peoples from a country based on their heritage is still being used as a political solution. Rikki gave up his job with the Border Patrol and Elsie sheltered a Jewish boy. An interesting parallel in human courage. I also enjoyed the glimpse into the life of people in Berlin as WWII is drawing to a close. Even people who agreed with the Nazi government were short on rations. Notes on specific food shortages - meat, sugar, etc. - and how the people survived without them were interesting.