Firstly my thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this novel, but possibly a bit numb given the very dramatic ending. Survival of German prison camps, only to bring about the downfall of innocent bystanders was doubtless a common-place story during the war. The novel is well written, with empathy and emotion. The characters played their roles in this realistic period of fear and dread, displaying their strengths and weaknesses with conscience eventually taking precedence. My congratulations to Michael Whatling on this extremely engaging historical novel.

This book was a fast read for me. The story was good and I love reading about this time period. But honestly nothing really stood out for me. It didn’t pull the emotions that some books of this time period do for me. The writing was good too.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Andre, Mireille and their four year old son Frederic live in an apartment above their patisserie shop in France and the Albert’s are a happy family. Due to the Second World War, it’s difficult to find baking supplies and Andre has to extend his search further. He returns one day to find his young son playing in the street, Mireille missing and a starving Jewish woman hiding behind the display case.

He has no idea what to do, Mireille's gone, she wouldn’t leave the shop empty, abandon him and Frederic! He desperately tries to find her, he asks the owners of all the other businesses in the street and everyone living nearby. Nothing, they didn’t see her leave, no one knows what happened to her and he’s distraught.

Andre’s a compassionate man, he helps Emilie, and she’s hurt, terrified, hungry and filthy. She stays at the apartment, it’s impossible to get her out of town without someone noticing and very dangerous. Andre reports Mireille missing to the police, he didn’t want to involve the Germans and he’s horrified when a German officer visits his shop. Is Nazi officer Egger interested in a French woman mysteriously going missing or is he really looking for a Jewish woman who has escaped?

The French Baker’s Wife plot is about Andre searching for Mireille and he will do whatever it takes to find her, he will never give up and he needs help from the French resistance. A story full of mystery, suspense, danger, intrigue, secrets, desperation, and a few shocks. Michael Whatling has written a very unique WW II historical fiction story, it’s dramatic, intense, engrossing and has a cast of interesting characters.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and four stars from me.

Trigger warning: one of the main characters is emotionally abusive throughout most of the book.
I really wanted to like The French Bakers Wife by Michael Whatling. The premise sounded so promising. The long winded writing and a self absorbed main character just didn't deliver. It was definitely a unique take on an often written about subject. The son, Frederic, is a bright boy who appears to have autism. While none of the adults understand what he's struggling with, they seem to understand that he's brighter than he might appear, at first glance, and that he must be protected. The father, Andre', is dealing with a lot and takes it out on everyone around him, especially those who're trying to help. While Emilie shouldn't be there, the Nazis were the ones that forced her to come. I didn't love the ending but it's probably pretty realistic.

A bakery in France in 1943. A hidden Jewish women and a women who has disappeared. German soldiers on the streets. A spellbinding story.

This book took me on a grand emotional journey. From joy to sorrow to confusion and anger, and then back again through them each, <i>The French Baker's War</i> is a beautiful narrative. I smiled at Andre's kindness toward Emilie, cheered at his acts with the Resistance against the Nazis, and felt my eyes well up as I read what happened to Mireille. Stories of the world wars, World War II in particular, tend to focus on the battles and the actual warfare. <i>The French Baker's War</i> takes a different route, showing us the pain and cruelty war inflicts on civilians, on families, on communities; how it turns neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend, shattering towns like porcelain thrown against a stone wall, only for the pieces to be picked up and glued back together into a new shape, sharp edges and all. The hard truth of this book is that sometimes very good people do very good things, selfless, noble things, and in return are punished and committed to suffering. There are no easy decisions for these characters, no choices made without intense consideration.

The details in this book are vivid, including a paragraph or two describing the construction, assembly, and initial use of the main display case in the Albert's pastry shop. The characters, especially Andre, Emilie, Mireille, and Monsieur Durand, feel fleshed out and complex, as though they had narrated their versions of the events directly to Michael Whatling for his recording in this volume. The way Mireille always says to bake three petit fours so that they will have something sweet to eat, the way Andre manages this, even during the most difficult periods of the story, Madame Monchamp's haughtiness, Gilles's drunken impropriety, they all come together spectacularly to tell an emotional, heartrending story. This book could, and should, be turned into a movie (but an adaptation that is highly faithful to the source material, please!).

I absolutely recommend this book. I won't say it was the happiest or most uplifting book I've read, but it was certainly cathartic, and well-written. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go buy some petit fours and mille feuille from the Pâtisserie Saint-Léry.