
Author: Shirley Russak Wachtel
Published by: Lake Union Publishing on June 1, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 315
Format: Hardcover
Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR
Book Rating: 8/10
Growing up in 1960s Brooklyn, Lena wants to be a baker just like her mother was back in Poland prior to World War II. But questions about those days, and about a sister Lena never even knew, are ignored with solemn silence. It’s as if everything her parents left behind was a subject never to be broached.
The one person in whom Lena can confide is her best friend, Pearl. When she suddenly disappears from Lena’s life, Lena forges college, love and marriage with a wonderful man, the dream of owning a bakery becoming a reality, and the hope that someday Pearl will return to share in Lena’s happiness—and to be there for her during the unexpected losses to come.
Only when Lena discovers the depth of her parents’ anguish, and a startling truth about her own past, can they rebuild a family and overcome the heart-wrenching memories that have torn them apart.
Review:
Rich, poignant, and haunting!
The Baker of Lost Memories is a rich, heart-tugging tale that transports you to Brooklyn during the 1960s and into the life of one Jewish family, especially the youngest daughter Lena, who even though was born after the war, struggles to understand and overcome the family’s extreme loss and silent pain caused by the Nazis.
The prose is tight and intense. The characters are multilayered, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot is a tender tale of life, loss, trauma, tragedy, grief, guilt, loneliness, desperation, familial drama, secrets, survival, redemption, and new beginnings.
Overall, The Baker of Lost Memories is a compelling, evocative, immersive story by Wachtel that I thoroughly enjoyed and which had just the right amount of intrigue, harrowing history, and palpable emotion to be a captivating tale for lovers like myself of the historical fiction genre.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.