City Baker's Guide to Country Living (Miller)

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living 
Louise Miller, 2016
Penguin Publishing
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101981207


Summary
A full-hearted novel about a big-city baker who discovers the true meaning of home—and that sometimes the best things are found when you didn’t even know you were looking

When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambeed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah.

But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts.

Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest.
 
With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life.

And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy  comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought.
 
But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Rasied—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—Maine College of Art
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts


Louise Miller is a writer and pastry chef who lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

Born to two Teamsters, she was raised in urban Boston until the age of eight, when she moved to a posh suburb and quickly learned that in order to survive she would have to lose her thick Boston accent. She still drops her r’s when tired or angry.

Louise attended Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art) where she studied photography. She left art school when she ran out of money, and still dreams of going back someday. Louise started her first baking job in 1994, at a little bakery in Cambridge, MA. She hated her first job, gave notice and had vowed never to work in a kitchen again, when on her last day she met her baking mentor, who talked her into staying on by offering to teach her the art of pastry.

Louise has been a baker/pastry chef for over twenty years. She has worked in an exclusive golf club, the private kitchen of a major investment firm, a macrobiotic restaurant where she could only use maple syrup and barley malt as sweeteners, and a kosher gourmet shop. She is currently the pastry chef of The Union Club of Boston, a historic private club formed in 1863, where she has worked for the past thirteen years.

A lifelong lover of reading, Louise began her first attempt at novel writing in 2009. She received a scholarship in 2012 to attend GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator program, a year-long workshop for novelists, where she worked on the final revisions of her novel. The City Baker's Guide to Country Living was published in 2016.

Louise loves stories in all forms. In addition to books, she is a great lover of movies and an avid theatregoer. She and her partner hold subscriptions to two theatres in Boston, and they frequently travel to New York to see plays. 

When she is not consuming stories in some form, Louise loves to be outside. She is a happy member of her community garden where, though as a lifelong vegetarian she eats a ton of vegetables, she is only interested in growing flowers.

Louise is also a mediocre old-time banjo player, and loves all animals, especially dogs. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Sometimes novels about food, cooking and/or baking seem to me insubstantial, too full of pink frosting and improbable recipes. Not so with Louise Miller’s debut novel. This is heartier fare.... Livvy moves to Guthrie, Vermont, and takes a job at the Sugar Maple Inn. Here her life begins to shift towards deeper connections with the folks around her....[which] gave me many reasons to root for her, to hope against hope she would transform into a more fully realized human being.... All in all, a satisfying, dare I say—tasty read.  READ MORE.
Keddy Ann Outlaw - LitLovers


[E]ndearing.... Miller, a pastry chef herself, writes about food with vivid detail...[and]  excels at characterization.... Throughout, the novel’s empathetic spirit and unhurried pace allow it to grapple with grief, family, and belonging, while keeping the focus on Olivia’s difficult decisions.
Publishers Weekly


Mix in one part Diane Mott Davidson's delightful culinary adventures with several tablespoons of Jan Karon's country living and quirky characters, bake at 350 degrees for one rich and warm romance.... [A] lighthearted love story that's as homey as a slice of prized crumb apple pie. —Julia M. Reffner, North Chesterfield, VA
Library Journal


[Miller] initially succeeds in making these small-town concerns engaging with her witty writing. But...the book becomes treacly. A promising author who doesn't have the recipe quite right yet.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Food and its role in tradition, community, and family is a theme that is threaded throughout the story. What are the culinary traditions in your family? Discuss how food can be an equalizer—among friends, enemies, strangers, etc.
 
2. Margaret and Dottie have been lifelong friends. How do you think their friendship evolved during that time? Have you had friendships that have spanned decades? How have they changed? How have they stayed the same?
 
3. At first, Livvy observes Guthrie from an outsider’s perspective, yet she soon warms to country life. Do you think Livvy does anything to hold her back from fully engaging in daily life in Guthrie? Have you ever had a limiting belief about yourself that has held you back from pursuing something you wanted?
 
4. Margaret and Livvy have a contentious relationship from the minute they meet. What is the turning point where they soften toward each other? Does it happen at the same time for both of them?
 
5. Food plays an integral part in the novel—New England treats such as sugar on snow and maple creemees are featured throughout. Is there a food or a food memory in your own life that you associate with a special place or time?
 
6. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living is a story about belonging—to a person, to a place, to a community, to a family. What is it about Margaret, the McCrackens, and the community of Guthrie that makes Livvy feel like she has finally found home? What gives you a sense of belonging?
 
7. Fidelity is a running theme in the book. In the opening, Livvy is having an affair with a married man and alludes to other affairs. Why do you think Livvy engages in these kinds of relationships? How do they help or hurt her? How do they shape her experiences in Guthrie?
 
8. There are many unconventional families who appear in The City Baker—from Margaret’s relationship to the McCrackens to the staff at The Sugar Maple to Livvy’s relationship to Hannah to Livvy and Margaret’s relationship to each other. How do you define family? Do you have a chosen family as well as your birth family? Do you have people in your life whom you consider family who are not technically related to you?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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