6/12/16

Rosalia's Bittersweet Pastry Shop ★★★★½ by Rosanna Chiofalo



First of all I loved this story.  It was rich and full of the flavor of the love of baking and nuns life complete with the love of God as well as their fellow man.  It could have been dark and depressing and instead it was filled with light and love and hope.

The story transports the reader back in time to a period when rape victims were faced with blame and their families had to live with shame.  Rosalia is a young woman who becomes the object of an obsession by a creepy youth who eventually kidnaps her, rapes her and forces her to send a letter to her family saying that she ran away willingly.  When she is found  by the nuns abandoned in a cave, bruised and naked, she is unable to remember her name and where she is from. The nuns nurse her back to living and teach her to bake in their pastry shop.  Eventually her memory returns but when she is taken back to her village, her family have moved on because the shame related to her disappearance.

Rosalia returns to the convent but continues to search for her family believing that one day she will be reunited with them.

The depth of emotion that is related in this story was  overwhelming at times but the reader is rewarded throughout by the beautiful story telling and characters.


DATE READ: June 5 - June 11
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Type of Book e-book
SOURCE: NetGalley

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