Sophie Mackintosh is one of my favourite writers and I think her novel have got progressively more brilliant (shout out for Blue Ticket which I adored) although her biggest commercial success is The Water Cure. Cursed Bread won't be everyone's cup of tea but it was very much mine. I especially loved that although evidently inspired by real events her setting is very abstract so that it feels both historical and dystopian which give it an almost dark fairy-tale setting.

I loved the atmosphere and setting. I didn’t feel it dragged slightly considering it was a short novel but Sophie’s writing is something I love and Cursed Bread was another brilliant read. 3.5

Inspired by a mass poisoning in the French town of Pont Saint-Esprit in the 1950s, Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh is an evocative, atmospheric, and strange novel about obsession and shame.

The mass poisoning is not as prominent a feature of the novel as people might expect given the publicity surrounding Cursed Bread. Instead, Sophie Mackintosh focuses on the inner life of Elodie, the baker’s wife whose marriage is anything but passionate. When Violet arrives in town with her husband, the ambassador, Elodie is drawn to her in ways that become increasingly unsettling.

Does Elodie simply want Violet’s exciting life, or is she in love with Violet? Can both be true? These are the questions that even Elodie struggles to answer although she desperately tries to in her letters to Violet.

There were occasions when I was unsure of whether Mackintosh herself knew where the story was going, and the story’s climax felt more than a little rushed after such an intense build-up, yet I adored it despite the pacing issues. I do not fully understand why, but sometimes a story has such an effect on you that you can overlook the things that would ordinarily take you out of the narrative. That’s how I feel about Cursed Bread. I read it back in March, and I’m still thinking about it.

Elodie is a character that will stay with me. And I’d happily read a version of this story told from Violet’s point of view.

I usually love literary fiction with a dose of horror, and I loved Sophie's previous book, The Water Cure, but I only felt lukewarm about this. Annoyingly, I can't exactly pinpoint why. Maybe I started this expecting too much? But Sophie is a fantastic writer and I do recommend anyone who likes literary fiction to check her out!

In the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit, Elodie is the baker’s wife. She lives a simple life but she longs for more. When a new couple move into the area, a brash ambassador and his wife Violet, Elodie takes an interest in both of them. A plague is about to sweep through the town and some think it has been caused by the bread. But Elodie is about to discover that a real predator’s identity isn’t always the obvious choice. I wasn’t really sure whether to label this book as a mystery because although it is set amidst a real mystery that occurred in 1950s France, it’s not really the focus of this short novel. However, I’m not really sure how else to categorise it. Ultimately, Cursed Bread is an atmospheric, immersive read that explores an intense, female frenemy situation. It’s dark, hazy and quite dream-like with a strong sense of foreboding and doom throughout. I didn’t anticipate the sharp turn that it took at the end and it made for a very interesting, fast read that caused me to wonder what it was really all about!

The kind of edgy fever-dream that I love, and I loved this. It’s a particular kind of hazy read which won’t be for everyone. Although this is definitely a vibe that works for me, knowing the historical case that inspired this novel before I began reading helped me to appreciate some of the more obscure stages of the narrative. I enjoyed this reading experience slowly. Mackintosh is the kind of writer you can do that with.

On paper, this sounds like it would be my ideal book; it fits nicely into the mould of the burgeoning genre of sad girl lit that has been published over the last five years or so, with it’s emotionally distant female protagonist who becomes obsessed with a seemingly more sexually experienced older woman. However, Cursed Bread was stale! The (sometimes overly) flowery writing did not make up for the lack of coherent plot and the narrative fell completely flat. 2/5 stars.

i really really wanted to love this one!!

i think it truly depends on your preferences because i can 100% see why people rave about this book, that being said it wasn’t for me. it is a short book that felt like 500+ pages when i was reading it.

if you are looking for an unhinged, claustrophobic narrator then defo have a go!

Dramatic, frustrated and darkly horny, this is one hell of a book written by an author who has come into her powers.

This one was such a hit and miss for me. Cursed Bread is based on the true story of a mass poisoning in the 50s and it's told in 'before' and 'after' sections. Before, Élodie is the baker's wife and she is seduced by the arrival of a glamorous new couple in her small French village: Violet and the ambassador. And after, Elodie is living by the seaside and pondering what has happened.

Firstly, I'll say that book is really strange and I tend to strongly dislike strange and surreal books. If this is your thing, you'll probably enjoy it more than me! I really liked the 'before' sections: in beautifully crisp prose, Sophie Mackintosh constructs these incredibly vivid and perfectly balanced scenes that are so atmospheric of the claustrophobia of French village life. But I was really bored by the 'after' sections. I didn't think there was much of a point to them, they really didn't add anything to the story for me, and there was something almost generic about their content. I was also completely uninterested in Violet as a character and as her presence haunts so much of this book, there was a lot I found myself wishing I could skip through. A shame because the dynamics of the village are great, and some of Sophie Mackintosh's sentences are truly excellent.

'Cursed Bread' is my first foray into Sophie Mackintosh's novels. It follows a claustrophobic friendship between two women and the relationships that they have with their husbands. Cursed Bread is a wonderful novel and would be perfect for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh.

A bit of a heavy read, not a book for someone who likes a lighthearted read but it's story and charcters are interesting

i really enjoyed this book! although it took me a while to get in to, it felt like a total fever dream and left me mesmerised

I was fascinated by the premise of this book which is based on a true story of a poisoning taking place in a small French town. I loved Sophie Mackintosh’s writing and the setting was very vivid but I did struggle to get in to it. We get a glimpse of life in this small town and all the various characters but I think the thing lacking for me was a connection with the main protagonist Elodie. Elodie becomes obsessed with new arrivals Violet and her husband the ambassador. This is a dark, slow burn book and feels quite vivid and intense which are all things I love. I think it would have been better to sit and read in one go. I will definitely try more books from this author though.

Cursed Bread by Sally Mackintosh

Firstly let me begin by saying this was a book that I went into reading, having only read the blurb and really quite blind as to the premise of the book. The book is based on an actual and frightening occurrence in a French town in August 1951. The town's 230 inhabitants went mad over a 48 hour period due to poisoning, 'pain maudit' cursed bread. Or was this really the cause ...

Based in the little French town of Pont Saint- Espirit during a sweltering summer in 1951. Elodie the Baker's wife is feeling oppressed, not just by the stifling heat and her lack of marital bliss, but also due to all the villagers constantly telling her their darkest secrets as though the bakery was a confessional. Life is repetitive and dull for Elodie with trips to the lavoir being a rare moment to escape her duties. That is until the sudden arrival of the Ambassador and his unusual wife Violet. Violet with her dark hair and glamour, sharp teeth and sharper opinions.

The town is invited to a party at Violet and the Ambassador's House and this is the cataclysmic moment life changes for Elodie and the town.

The story starts of slow as we see everything through the eyes of Elodie and letters she sends to Violet. Bruises on Violet's wrists, a building undercurrent of foreboding builds and Elodie's obsession with the new couple increases. This story is interlaced with eroticism, violence and obsession bordering on stalking with a strong religious undercurrent.

This book simply blew my mind. It's no wonder it is on the Women's prize for fiction longlist.

This is a fictional account of a real event that took place in a small town in France in the 1950's. This is a story of obsession, denial of pleasure and what it is to want to own/be someone else so completely that you take on elements of their life. The story is told through the eyes of Elodie, who is utterly fascinated by a new couple when they move into town, particularly the wife, Violet.
We learn quickly that Elodie is an unreliable narrator but that makes her retelling all the more interesting as she veers into the fantastical, particularly in the aftermath of the what happened in the town. The story has a wonderful slow build to it, and you can feel the town slipping closer to the edge the further into the story you get.
Of course , it cumulates into an absolute descent into lunacy.
Mackintosh captured the ever present eyes of a small town well, particularly the women. There are countless moments where we see their true feelings towards Violet and each other, tough they would never be honest enough to say it to their faces.
I will say that I struggled occasionally with the writing style, losing the train of thought here and there so that I would have to go back to re-establish it. I also never came to like any of the characters, but I feel that is something that is very human in this book, they are all awful people, we are not meant to root for them.
Overall, a fascinating and enjoyable read.

Good writing. Good formatting. Story was a bit weak but in the usual style of the author in that it is quite abstract and ephemeral.

I read this after it made it on the women’s prize longlist, thinking it was a good chance to try a Sophie Mackintosh book. The writing it beautiful and poetic, but I never quite got the plot. That being said, it’s a short read and I wanted to keep going until I reached the end, which does build in momentum. I think something was just slightly lost on me, as I can’t see myself raving about it.

Based loosely on real life events, where a village is mass poisoned, this is a tale of dark obsession, eerie and creepy. I found Cursed Bread underwritten with a real sense of foreboding. Narrated by Elodie in a haunting, almost melancholy tone, the reader is drawn into the depths of Elodies story.

Set after the war in France, the arrival of the glamorous Violet and her handsome ambassador husband in the village causes intrigue with the village folk, and in the case of Elodie, the wife of the village Baker who is starved of her husbands attention both sexually and emotionally, that soon turns into something wholly more sinister. We learn through Elodie Violet and her husband are not quite what they seem from the outside. The disquieted atmosphere is intensified by the strange goings-on in the village since their arrival, and the mounting hysteria.

Sophie's prose is beautiful and beguiling, this novel is a feast for the senses. Different to her deubt The Water Cure, and her second novel Blue Ticket, Cursed Bread is a more gothic offering. The writing style won't be for everyone, but it is well worth loosing yourself in.

A compulsive and mesmerising read, throughly deserving it's place on the longlist for The Womens Prize for Fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

"If you eat the bread, you'll die, he said"

Cursed Bread is Mackintosh' third novel, and it's a powerful story of shame, obsession and lust, set against the backdrop of the real-life mass poisoning of a French village. Hundreds of people fell ill in Pont-Saint-Esprit in 1951, succumbing to mass hallucinations and vomiting - and 7 died. This is compelling fodder for a story, but Mackintosh uses it only as a setting, preferring to focus with laser intent on her characters.

There's the charasmatic and mysterious Violet, who has just moved to the town with her sadistic, violent husband, and the shame-ridden, lonely, Elodie, our point-of-view character. Elodie is desperate to be loved: trapped in a marriage with a man who doesn't care about her, she becomes quietly obsessed with Violet, and this obsession is is the meat of the story. Elodie slowly worms her way into Violet's life, inviting herself to their house, palpably and painfully in awe of the couple and in dire need of their love. It is skin-crawling stuff.

I think Cursed Bread was a good book - it's just been nominated for the Women's Prize - that didn't fit with my headspace when I read it. I wanted something more compelling, thrumming with danger - whereas Cursed Bread allows the threat of the posioning to hum away in the background, only coming to the forefront in the novel's final section. The structure is meandering - reality gives way to fantasy, and much of the novel is written in the second person - so it's hard to follow, too. It's a strange little fever dream of a book, one I may return to when my hunger for plotty historical novels has been abated.