Peter Grover

From the title (I had no idea what a “weather baker” was supposed to be), to the characters and the style, this story is quirky and unusual. It is set mostly in France, and I loved the feel and flavor, the sights and sounds of all things French that came through loud and clear on every page. At the center of events is Peter, a young American who is determined never to fall in love again after a major disappointment while he was in college. He emotionally withdraws more and more, and finally his mother takes him to France, hoping the trip will be a distraction and return him to normal.

This novella focuses on Peter’s journey out of depression, but his point of view is not the only one I got to see. Pretty much every character in the book gets a say, and while this was extremely disorienting at times, it also added a special flavor to the proceedings. Added to multiple flashbacks and long paragraphs detailing everyone’s thoughts, it took me a while to get used to the way this author tells Peter’s story. But in the end, I have to say it was worth the effort.

Peter must have been an introvert before his father died in a tsunami a few years earlier and before his first lover hurts him, but ever since then he is emotionally so withdrawn that he almost stops participating in the world. The trip to France begins to cheer him up, and an encounter with the “weather baker” – a bakery famous for handing out weather predictions with their baked goods – soon has him interested in the woman’s son, Gaston. Both young men are painfully shy, and while they are clearly attracted to each other, they each have reasons not to let anything come of it. Peter does not want to suffer anther heartbreak, and Gaston fears that people will despise him for being gay.

Their romance eventually does blossom, mainly focuses on the physical side at first. But it is hesitant, neither of them allows himself to fall fully for the other, and both are determined to hide what is going on. Add an attractive stranger, Gaston’s cousin vanishing, a dead body, and the confusion occupies both young men for quite a while, but it also makes them rethink their priorities.

If you like stories with a depressed main character who needs to figure out what to do with his life, if you enjoy mysterious goings-on and finding more questions than answers throughout a large part of a story, and if you’re looking for an unusual read in a beautiful setting, then you might like this novella.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.… (mehr)