First a disclaimer: I didn't read this book. I should have read a sample first, because upon reading the first few sentences I realised that the writing style did not appeal to me at all. Whether something has been lost in the translation or not, it is just far too verbose and the writing style very dull for my tastes.

This book was set in the 1980's. Elettra struggles to keep her mother's bakery open after her mother Edda has a stroke. Elettra dreams of being a journalist working in New York and finding her father.
Clara, a mysterious friend Edda instructs Elettra to make aniseed bread rolls and take them to the Convent of Saint Elizabeth on Titan's Island and leave the rolls at the feet of the statue of Saint Elizabeth at the Convent and pray for Edda.
Elettra's mother worked at the Convent when she was young, Elettra travels to the small isolated Island in the Mediterranean.where she hopes to find answers to her mother's early life and the name of her father.
This was a novel about tragedy, secrets and everlasting friendship.and an old Convent.

I just couldn't get on with the writing: it was disjointed at times, and contained extremely long sentences at others. A lot of telling not showing. The recipes seemed great but I just didn't find myself interested.

This book was not what I expected but I was captivated right from the beginning by the wonderful setting of an island off the coast of Sardinia, the mystery of Ekettra's mother's background and the characters in what was once an old convent. The recipes were great as well. It all came together in a most satisfying ending.

My sister has shelves of books like The Little Italian Baker in her house, and last time I was visiting I thought it was time to see what she was reading.

The Little Italian Bakery is a sweet story, full of betrayals, secrets, lies.

As the title may have given away, there is baking involved in this story - a lot! And what it did do was make me crave cake the whole time I was reading!

Elletra's story is captivating and heartbreaking all at the same time. I got angry for her. I got angry with her. My heart hurt for her - and all the ladies on the island. I just wanted them all to find their happy.

What I did like about this book is that that these were all strong women, women who stood up to the bullies and the bad guys. I liked that they never gave up, never surrendered (Oh wait, am I quoting Galaxy Quest here?) and in the end they won everyone over.

There are some wonderful recipes throughout the story - though I felt that maybe they would have been better of listed together at the end of the story, as they did sometimes take me out of the flow of the story. However, this could just be me.

It also made me hanker for an Italian holiday - and I may have checked out airfares there whilst i was reading *runs off to check bank balance again*

***waiting for review to go live on Amazon***