Despite some weaknesses, this book is a good book. Two parallel stories, two periods, two bakeries and female characters who star throughout history. Although men are not absent they stay in the background while the characters in complex and worked personality whatsoever Opa, Josef, Riki, or even what Peter that we know only through the eyes of others . But the greatest place for women is in this book. All very different and yet all struggling to live according to their desires, all with a strong personality, both admirable and fragile, all shared between submission and rebellion. And children are also present, showing the ambiguities and complexities than their elders. The most interesting and engaging part is that relating the story of Elsie: at the daily life of Nazi Germany and its people, struggle for survival, weight of a pervasive ideology, ignorance of the reality of events . The history of Reba is less exciting, parallelism with that of Elsie is often a little too heavy and least endearing characters. And finally, the main character, the one who made the connection between the two stories is the bakery! The passages concerning the manufacture of breads and cakes are real successes, real treats. This puts the mouth water. We even feel smell the scents, the warmth of the oven and rolls coming out ... And, best of all, revenues in the last pages! Nice book touching, endearing and invigorating!
