Judith R. Hendricks

I must admit that I have a bread machine. It probably doesn't redeem me in any way to say that it is generally dusty with disuse either. I know that it is merely a shortcut for homemade bread and that it cannot come close to the delectable stuff made by hand in artisanal bakeries and the kitchens of home bakers but we all work with our own skills. And much as I'd love to actually learn to bake my own bread from scratch, I just don't see it in the cards for me, at least not on a regular show more basis, and certainly not as a passion. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the skill that goes into making it or a gorgeous description of warm, yeasty bread with steam curling up from the torn bit of crust. Now I'm just making myself hungry! Judith Ryan Hendrick's newest novel, Baker's Blues, about a baker and her ex-husband, is the third in a trilogy that gets both bread making and the complications of love and relationships right.

Wynter Morrison owns a successful bakery in Los Angeles. She's somehow gotten away from making the bread herself, caught up in the logistics of owning the business rather than sinking her hands into the dough. She's been divorced from ex-husband Mac for several years but she is still thrown for a loop when she gets the early morning phone call that he has died unexpectedly. They share a long history and still cared for each other despite their divorce. Jumping back in time from the funeral and Mac's daughter's unreasonable anger at Wyn for her father's death, the novel turns to the past and the story of Wyn and Mac's marriage unraveling. Wyn works hard at her bakery and tries to support Mac, a best-selling author turning his book into a screenplay, as he does PR events and hits the party circuit. She misses the old, uncomplicated Mac she used to know, not certain of this slick and unhappy seeming version of himself. She wants him to open up and talk to her about his feelings, something he cannot do. In fact, he walks out on their marriage rather than face his demons or share his secrets. When Mac goes, Wyn has to find strength and meaning in herself again.

Opening the novel with Mac's death and then going back to plumb the depths of their relationship is very effective, allowing the reader to know that despite their divorce, Wyn's reaction to his death proves that neither Wyn nor Mac is a villain in the novel. The slow disintegration of their marriage and the reason behind it is incredibly emotional. Hendricks has drawn both Wyn's hurt frustration and Mac's deep despair and inability to stop sabotaging them very true to life. Wyn's character is hit with a confluence of terrible or life altering events all at once: Mac's desertion, the death of her beloved dog, an earthquake hitting Southern California, and her manager and friend leaving to go to school. It is no wonder that she's completely adrift or that she turns back to the slow art of creating, kneading, and baking bread as she tries to wrap her head around an unimaginable future. The majority of the novel is narrated by Wyn but there are several chapters where the perspective turns to the third person and the focus is on Mac. This gives the reader both Wyn's thoughts and reactions to Mac but also shows the depth of the depression crippling Mac's interpersonal relations and a well rounded explanation into the complexity of their love, which outlasts their marriage.

The novel is the final book in a trilogy but it easily stands on its own. Readers who start at the beginning with Bread Alone and continue with The Baker's Apprentice will already know some of the history that haunts Wyn and Mac and they will have a richer understanding of their relationships with many of the secondary characters but none of this knowledge is necessary to enjoy Baker's Blues. Although it tackles the hard topic of being depressed and living with someone who is depressed, there is still a warm and comfortable feel to the writing and the story. The reader is pulled along through the end of Wyn and Mac's marriage, knowing what is coming but still turning the pages to see how they get there and how Wyn will go on after Mac's death. There are a significant number of secondary plot lines here that compliment the main story arc. Be warned that the luscious descriptions of food and bread will have your stomach rumbling as you read. Sad and lovely, I recommend you read all three of the books but even just this one will do. show less

Avery is a determined, sometimes outspoken, and intelligent young woman. We first meet her when she is in her mid-twenties, working for a catering company. Out of the blue, she sees a portrait which can only be of her mother... whom she never met.

This starts Avery on a journey into the past, where she was brought up in a children's home before running away at thirteen. As she thinks about people in the past, and learns more about her mother and her various friends, she is gradually able to show more accept herself and see how her future might pan out.

The style is racy, moving to different time-frames, though written primarily in the present tense. I found it surprisingly gripping, after a few chapters, and read the bulk of it in one sitting. Avery is a wonderful and believable creation, and while there are one or two coincidences that slightly stretched my credulity, they somehow don't matter in context.

Four and a half stars, really. Were it not for a little more bad language than I'm comfortable with I'd have given this five. Definitely recommended. show less

Sunny Cooper lives in Albuquerque with her boyfriend, a long way from Armonia, the commune where she grew up. She can tell that things aren't going well between she and Michael and she wants to talk to him but he is killed in a car accident before she can confront him. In the wake of this accident, her life starts to unravel and she takes off to start over again, heading all the way to the small town of Harmony on San Miguel Island, off the coast of Washington. Painstakingly building her show more life over again and slowly letting other people into her life, Sunny comes to be a part of Harmony even as the past catches up to her and determines her future. Sunny's present storyline is interspersed with her childhood in the commune, leading up to the tragic day when her younger sister died. The weaving is well done as the reader never feels yanked one way or the other and is content to wait to get back to each story in due time.

Sunny is a prickly character but one whom the reader comes to care about and wish well. Her scars are earned and it is completely understandable that she is slow to warm up to people given her past history. The setting of the book, both in New Mexico and on the fictional Washington island, is incredibly well drawn and makes the reader feel as if s/he is there. The characters are realistic and almost all fully fleshed out (Sunny's initial landlady is a bit of a characature but she's one of few here). There is a massive twist in the plot that I didn't expect but it worked and showed how far Sunny had matured given the way she chose to deal with it. This is definitely a relationship story, between mother and daughter; between lovers; and between friends. And it was a satisfying one at that. show less

The Laws of Harmony is the story of Sunny Cooper, a voice-over artist living in Albequerque with her boyfriend, Michael. Her life seems to be all in order: boyfriend she loves, amazing best friend, work she enjoys. Then a tragic accident occurs, one that takes someone precious and also reveals the secrets and lies that were under the surface of her world.

Sunny runs from her past - the distant past of her chidlhood in a commune on the mesa in New Mexico, and the recent past of her broken show more relationships - as far as she can go without boarding a plane. She ends up in the little town of Harmony, on fictional San Miguel Island in the Pacific Northwest. Sunny begins to make a life for herself in Harmony, but fate has a few more startling revelations to throw her way.

The Laws of Harmony was a wonderful way to spend the last week’s worth of reading time. Ms. Hendricks is a talented wordsmith, and her descriptions of the New Mexican desert and the San Juan islands were beautifully written. I also enjoyed the way she wove scenes of Sunny’s history into the present action - it was seamlessly done, and a good way to give the character’s backstory without dumping it all at the beginning of the book, as less talented authors are wont to do.

I read one review of this book that described Sunny’s character as “prickly,” and that’s an apt description. Her history and relationship with her mother have made her fiercely independent and wary of people. Her relationship with Michael only served to reinforce her distrust of others. The townspeople of Harmony, however, are determined to break through her defenses and welcome her into their community - whether she likes it or not.

In The Laws of Harmony, Judith Hendricks writes deftly about dealing with the past. What should we hold on to? What should we let go? What happens if we don’t let go of past pain? I especially liked the realistic way in which the relationship between Sunny and her mother, Gwen, was handled. A relationship that has endured pain and betrayal does not heal quickly. It takes work and each person moving closer, one step at a time. Hendricks writes realistically of betrayal, disappointment, and pain, but also of healing, hope, and community. Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars show less