It’s 1960, and Lena is living in Brooklyn with her parents and hoping to be a baker like her mother. Her parents owned a bakery in Poland, before they ended up in under Nazi control. While she doesn’t always feel loved by her parents, she is always loved by her best friend Pearl. As they grow up, the families traumas become more pronounced, and Lena pulls away.

So while reading I felt like the synopsis of this book was not really an accurate representation of the book. However, When I went to write my own, I realized that you can’t say too much without giving things away. I really struggled with the mother/daughter relationship in this one. I understood why Anya would have a hard time with motherhood after everything she had been through, but at the same time I felt so much for Lena and the shoes she felt she needed to fill in order to make her parents love her. This was a slow burn for sure, and I wish we got a bit more in the ending as it felt a bit abrupt, but I really enjoyed the story.

Thank you to @otrpr for my gifted copy of this book!

The Baker of Lost Memories by Shirley Russak Wachtel is a recommended family drama/historical fiction.
Anya and Josef lost their first daughter, Ruby, but they survived the Holocaust before moving from Poland to America. There they had another daughter, Lena. While growing up, Lena always felt her parents distance from her but she had a best friend, Pearl, who tragically disappears from Lena’s life. The narrative goes on to follow Lena growing up, marrying, and owning a bakery in 1960's Brooklyn.

The quality of the writing is good and has a lot of potential as it deals with trauma and the effects of it on a family. The plot is interesting, mainly follows Lena's struggles with her marriage and her work at the bakery, but the pacing is uneven, verging on glacially slow at times. The narrative alternates between the point-of-view of Anya and Lena and provides insight into the distance between mother and daughter and the struggles in continuing their relationship. Most of the interpersonal problems, both with Lena's marriage and with her mother, could have been resolved with an open, honest discussion.

Honestly, I never felt emotionally invested in the characters or the novel, likely due to the uneven pacing. Introducing Pearl suddenly coming back into Lena's life was an unbelievable aspect to the plot. I deduced what was up right away, could not suspend disbelief, and rejected the premise. Perhaps people who relish all historical fiction novels will enjoy this more than I did.
Thanks to Little A for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.
This is the story of Lena and her relationship with her parents. Her parents have suffered a great tragedy right before WWII in Poland. Now they live in Brooklyn with their grown daughter Lena, who has tried all of her life to please and understand her parents (especially her mother). Through loss, understanding and a lot of love, their relationship starts to mend. I liked this book and especially enjoyed reading about the bakery. Overall, this is a good book that deals with the tragedies of war, and the effects it can have on a family for many years.

Definitely a little confused at this book at the revelation about Pearl and put off by the relationship between Lena and her parents. Almost to the point of being uncomfortable as the reader and not sure if I wanted to finish.

There was life before the war came to Poland, and there was life ‘after’.

This was painful to read as is the case for any WWII based story. Unimaginable physical and mental pain like that maybe never leaves us. And it has colored her second daughter’s life.

Lena tries to live up to the daughter who didn’t come home from school. I’m not sure there was any sort of communication about things, just Lena in her head.

There came a point where I was frustrated by all of the pain which could have been lessened by communication.

Rather depressing to the end.


NetGalley/ June 01, 2025 Little A

Not sure this book was a favorite. It started out strong…I was really invested in Anya’ and Josef’s life and story… I was loving the bakery element as well. But as it continued I felt the story became a bit disjointed and went in directions that didn’t seem to flow well.
Overall just ok for me

A very good premise and plot, but pacing was a major issue and many important parts felt massively underdeveloped and wrapped up too neatly to be plausible.

I had hoped for more from this.



Thank you to Little A and NetGalley for the DRC

Lena’s parents are holocaust survivors who lost their first child, Ruby. Lena wants to bake with her mother (Anya), but the memories are too strong and Anya shuts her out. Lena struggles to find a space in her life where she doesn’t fear disappointing someone.

I really liked the premise of this story and the first chapter had me hooked, but with a 2024-perspective, I really wanted her to find a counselor or just be honest with her mom (and vice versa). Their insecurities made it really hard to stay focused on the book.

Interesting novel about daughter of Holocaust survivors. Relationship between scarred mother and bulnerable daughter is the strongest part of the book. Depicts historical,periods with interesting details.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Baker of Lost Memories. It was a great read about a young woman who has hopes and dreams and somehow gets drawn into baking, a tradition in her family. She’s good at it too, but never seems to measure up to her lost sister.
Her parents, immigrated to the USA after the war and loss of their first child. Navigating their lives and new child couldn’t have been easy as we follow the story of Lena, the daughter as she navigates her own losses and yearning to be successful.
For me, there were lulls in the story and it started off must faster, but I was able to finish it with tears in my eyes. Really allowing me to put myself in a similar situation.

A definite pick up if you’re a fan of fictional history.

The story’s momentum failed to keep me hooked and my emotional journey with Lena and Pearl became lackadaisical and eventually disinterest caused it to peter out.

I appreciated the scenes where Wachtel gave me room for reflection and time to understand her characters’ world, but those were overshadowed by time spent waiting for something (dare I say it considering the setting) meaningful. The continuous use of flashbacks and florid descriptions caused me to lose focus and my connection to the characters.

For example, at the beginning, the girls are on a camp-out in the backyard. From the time they climb into the sleeping bags until the next mention of the camp-out, there are 640 words. Most of these words are descriptive flashbacks. After pages and pages of backstory, I had lost interest in what would happen at the camp-out.

I’m a big historical fiction reader and noted that Wachtel was skilled in imparting the heartbreaking nature of this catastrophic history and in showing how it transformed her characters and generations following. There’s no doubt this is due to her parent’s legacy. I appreciated a well-researched novel, the ease with which I slipped into the setting, the focus on the importance of family, and the resilience of her well-crafted characters.

Unfortunately, I wanted more. Faster.

I was gifted this copy by Little A and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I did not particularly enjoy this book; Pearl's character, in particular, was too abstract for me. Others might find greater meaning in the role Pearl played in the overall story, but for me it was a constant distraction and return to the thought of "what is happening with that".

“The Baker of Lost Memories” is a book about family, tradition, and the struggles that go along with it. This book follows Lena and her parents, Anya and Josef.

Anya and Josef owned a bakery in Poland during the Nazi occupation. The book discusses the Holocaust through Anya and Josef’s eyes.

After all of this, the couple moved to America and Lena was born. She grows up loving to bake like her mother but also trying to figure out what she really wants in life. When Lena is older, she learns of her parents struggles all the while trying to figure out her own.

I thought the subjects in this book were well handled. I also like the character growth the is seen throughout the book, especially with Lena and Anya. There were some threads in the story that I thought were just left dangling in the end.

The book does deal with the Holocaust and its horrors. There are some mentions of domestic abuse as well.

he Baker of Lost Memories by Shirley Russak Wachtel is an evocative dive into family, trauma, and healing set against the backdrop of 1960s Brooklyn. The story centers on Lena, a young woman inspired to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a baker. Her family’s past—rooted in wartime Poland—casts a lingering shadow over their lives, especially with the mystery surrounding a sister Lena never knew about. This historical fiction offers a layered look at how generational trauma impacts each family member and follows Lena's journey to uncover truths her parents have long buried.

The novel’s intergenerational perspective adds depth, moving between Lena’s present struggles and her parents’ harrowing memories. The scenes in which Lena uncovers fragments of her parents’ past are both haunting and hopeful, as she begins to understand the complexities of her heritage. Wachtel’s writing beautifully captures the contrasting warmth and weight of family ties, especially in the delicate moments between Lena and her mother, Anya.

However, the novel suffers from uneven pacing. The beginning is slow, with long, quiet stretches that delay the unfolding of the core family mystery. Additionally, the subplot involving Lena’s best friend, Pearl, is intriguing but doesn’t get the attention it deserves; its resolution feels rushed, leaving more questions than answers. At times, the story feels overly sentimental, and some plot points are handled a bit predictably, taking away from the otherwise immersive and rich storytelling.

Despite these issues, The Baker of Lost Memories succeeds in conveying the pain of unspoken histories and the possibility of healing. For readers who enjoy slow-burn family dramas and historical fiction with an emotional core, this novel delivers a heartfelt, if slightly imperfect, exploration of resilience and forgiveness across generations. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I liked this book overall and found it was good but felt that there were long stretches where not much happens but I did like the time period and setting
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher

Though short, this novel is completely absorbing. It is about a Jewish family in the 1960s and 1970s in Brooklyn. There are Anya and Josef who have lived through a world of pain and suffering before their move from Poland to America. Then there is their daughter Lena, who is the main character of the novel as she grows up, gets married, and pursues baking. The POV is third person and shifts back and forth between Anya and Lena.
I love the depth of the characters of Lena and Anya, and I cried during their heartbreaks. I did not expect the layers of World War II that would be involved in this story. Without giving too much away, Wachtel does an amazing job of weaving the trauma of the war in the daily lives of Anya and Josef. Lena was an interesting character, trying to juggle her husband, a career she does not like, and a contentious relationship with her parents. At times the parent-child relationship is frustrating, but this makes it far more realistic, adding layers to the story.
The description of the book made it seem like the central plot is a conflict surrounding her best friend Pearl, but when reading the novel, most of the pages are spent around Lena's marriage. This is not to say the mystery of Pearl does not lead to a plot twist, but it was a bit different than I expected. There are moments that are confusing for a few moments, which are likely a result of slight pacing issues. It is also a little unclear at times whether scenes are dreams or not, and while this could contribute to the twist, it didn't feel like that. However, the story was still interesting throughout and only docked one star from the novel.
This is the first novel I have read by Wachtel, but I will definitely be tracking down some of her other novels!
Thank you to Net Galley for providing me an ARC!

This was a great read! It was very interesting and well researched. I enjoyed the writing style a lot and highly recommended this book!

3.5 stars.
I must admit that this book is a deviation from the usual for me. This book starts off strong where we get to meet Anya and Josef who live in Poland during the Nazi occupation.

The story revolves around the trauma of the Holocaust and how it affects generations after that. Lena, their daughter experiences the after effects of that trauma through her upbringing.

I liked the domesticity of the book and the deep dive into Jewish culture. What doesn't work is lack of communication from all sides which would have solved so many problems namely a disastrous marriage.

Overall the book was good although the pacing and length could have been better.

I thank NetGalley and Little A for the E-Arc and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

English is not my native language, so I will definitely make some mistakes.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who is a history buff - she reads anything historical, no matter what century it is set in, she is also always interested in emotion-filled books.

➡️ I took the advice, but as much as I loved the style of the book, I found it very bleak and dark. Obviously speaking of a period like World War II and the Holocaust, I was not expecting anything fluff and lovely. Unfortunately, however, I found many passages disconcerting, many scenes crude, sometimes unrealistic. I prefer not to go into spoilers, but one of the first sad emotional scenes that happen in the novel feels not so realistic.

⭐ What I liked:

- The author's writing style is superb. Despite the fact that I speak another language, I found the book very easy to read, fluent and understandable, it is suitable even for non-native readers.
The author creates breathtaking settings with detailed and creative descriptions. The writer succeeds in making the reader live and see the scenes described.

- The use of different pov to go deeper into the story. The povs of the main characters vary and alternate, letting the reader discover more and more different details. Each protagonist is peculiar and unique, each has her own problems and ways of thinking.

- The use of an entire family to reconstruct history. Trauma is embedded in the people who suffer in this book and you can see it flowing between generations. The later generations feel more or less indirect pain, but strong nonetheless. I found this kind of use of povs and characters very profound, in doing so the author also manages to tell us about what remains deep beneath the stories we can see, or rather, in this case read. Underneath it all, there are many more emotions than we can grasp, trauma and the past haunt the protagonists, even when they themselves may not realize it. Grief is treated gently but shrewdly. Nothing escapes our notice; we can see that the author is an empathetic person.

❌ What I didn't like:

- The continuous succession of adverse events. There are several very strong scenes that seem put into the novel just to make the reader feel anguish.

- Sometimes the descriptions are too long or futile. Personally I find boring describing in detail every action of the characters, I think there is no point in describing for pages something like a character pouring tea into cups. But this is more of a personal taste.

- The characters do look a bit alike. The characterization is there, but the characters seem to think too similarly.

- The novel starts out too relaxed compared to what is going to happen - it fooled me into thinking it was a lighter novel than it is, I think a trigger warning needs to be inserted - the novel is very effective and beautiful nonetheless.

- The novel begins with the story of a character, who by the author's choice, will be lost to chapters, however. The change of pov is not a problem, but that the character with whom the book begins is lost for 8 chapters made me a bit puzzled and lost, even if by continuing to read the book, everything will wrap up, letting the reader discover the mystery around the family.

❕In general:

I really enjoyed reading a historical novel, it is one of my favorite genres, all in all it is a good novel. It is heavy for the time and historical reason it deals with. It was interesting to read, but parts of the plot and the ending left me confused and with many open questions.
It seems that the ending was written more quickly than other early chapters. There are many unresolved questions and the character development is slow, often standing still. I liked that a bakery was somewhat the center of the novel; it brings the whole thing to a different emotional level.
The author is a very good writer, however, I think the novel needs to be slightly revised. The arcs of the characters and their changes need to be clearer - it seemed to me that the novel wanted to teach the History more than the characters' stories. A novel can teach me History, but from the moment it is a novel, such it should be: the characters, their changes and the plot should be put first.
I thank the author for making the preview of her book available.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This novel had so much potential, but unfortunately it didn't come together for me. The characters were never fully developed and the plot jumped around a lot, which meant that by the time I got to the end, it seemed as though the author had simply wanted to wrap things up, despite my feeling that we were far from finished.

If I take a step back and think about the entire novel through the lens of trauma, both acute and intergenerational, then I can understand the lack of character development and weak organization. WWII historical fiction is my favorite genre, so I appreciate the emotional effort it took for Shirley Russak Wachtel to dive into this story and try to develop these characters, and understand that this is her niche. I would have loved to have seen Lena come into her own and actually have a personality... I would have loved more insight into Pearl... I would have loved for Anna to come forward and fight for her relationship with her daughter (Josef, too)... but again, when I think about all of these shortcomings, I'm reminded that in families bearing the burden of acute trauma, oftentimes the hardest things go unspoken and unexplored--there are a lot of wishes that never come true. So it's with this in mind that I give the book 2 stars rather than 1. Perhaps for those readers who can understand the unique struggles of trauma (specifically the Holocaust, genocide, becoming a refugee, etc.), this book will make perfect sense and touch on the chaos and questions left unanswered, the lives never lived, the journeys that don't neatly move from Point A to Point B.