About the Book
A full-hearted novel about a big-city baker who discovers the true meaning of home—and that sometimes the best things are found when you didn’t even know you were looking
When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts.
Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest.
With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life. And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought.
But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better.
My Review
This was one of those moments where a book I checked out from the library and it was really good. I picked this book purely on a whim because I love the cover. The picture resonates with me and makes me think of driving through the woods, which is what I assume the author was aiming toward. I also think that the font works well with this book, too.
The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living: A Novel was a beautiful book. I love Olivia. She is flawed and avoids relationships which can tie her down. I can relate to her so well. Although, unlike Olivia, my hair stays one color. I think many of us can relate to Olivia’s desire to run away to someplace new, too. And that someplace new may become the someplace she is meant to be. Granted, she first runs away to lick her wounds and Miller’s description of the fire is funny while still sparking compassion for Olivia in the telling. Miller does a beautiful job of showing how someplace one escapes to can turn into a home.
I also particularly enjoyed the way Miller was able to write Olivia, this character who avoided relationships and responsibilities (in that she liked to be able to run away quickly), but also showed how seamlessly Olivia built relationships. This portrayal of Olivia called to me because it highlighted the fact that we can be adverse to relationships but that won’t stop connections from happening. And relationships occur in this book (you will just have to read it to find out what I mean).
This book has a cast of unusual, quirky, and sweet characters. There is Margaret, the somewhat crotchety inn owner, Jane White, Margaret’s archenemy, sweet, Henry McCracken, and of course, Tom, whose introduction to Olivia includes his accusation of her breaking up a stranger’s marriage. This book has a small-town cast of characters but avoids the cliché that everyone knows everyone’s business in a small-town.
Miller writes beautifully. One of my favorite lines was describing the waltz at the dance:
The waltz held the feeling you get when you finish a well-loved book. It left me longing for something I couldn’t name.
(Sigh.) Isn’t that beautiful?
One of the best parts of this book is Miller’s writing when it comes to the desserts Olivia bakes. I love food, and I love to bake, so I enjoyed the descriptive way Miller wrote about what desserts Olivia was making. Some of the descriptions were mouthwatering. Having grown up in New England, I especially enjoyed the ways Miller writes about apple pie. Since I now live in Florida, where our apple varieties are very limited, I found myself living vicariously through Olivia each time she made an apple pie.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read The Late Bloomers’ Club: A Novel, Miller’s next book, also set in Guthrie, Vermont.
By the way, Penguin Books has a really good Reading Guide for this book on their website.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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