A fun, engaging, light read. (And I love the cover art!) Awarded 4 stars on Goodreads.
Part of this story takes place in contemporary times, part is historical fiction, and a bit of built in mystery too.
This novel slowly tells two stories:
1. The first is of a poor laborer’s, Guillaume du Frere, who comes to Paris to seek his fortune during the waning days of the Belle Époque. There, Gui discovers a passion and gift for creating exotic confections, thus the name of the book. And there’s also his hankering for the boss’s daughter.
2. The second story centers on Petra Stevenson, a struggling British graduate student, who is much less interested in completing her thesis than she is in uncovering her late grandfather’s history as a journalist.
With alternating chapters, Laura Madeleine (such an appropriate last name for writing about French pastries) delicately unpacks each story, with mounting suspense. Discovering how the two stories eventually connect is the chief delight of the book. Not great literature but very enjoyable.
Read more about Laura Madeleine.
Toby A. Smith 