A baker in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, must travel to Paris to uncover a family secret for her dying grandmother's and what she learns may change everything. The Sweetness of Forgetting is the book that made Kristin Harmel an international bestseller.
At thirty-six, Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her for a twenty-two year old, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she's running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen.
Now, Hope's beloved French-born grandmother Mamie, who wowed the Cape with her fabulous pastries for more than fifty years, is drifting away into a haze of Alzheimer's. But in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secrets she has held on to for so many years will soon be lost forever. Tantalizingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in Paris. And then, arming her with a scrawled list of names, she sends Hope to France to uncover a seventy-year-old mystery.
Hope's emotional journey takes her through the bakeries of Paris and three religious traditions, all guided by Mamie's fairy tales and the sweet tastes of home. As Hope pieces together her family's history, she finds horrific Holocaust stories mixed with powerful testimonies of her family's will to survive in a world gone mad. And to reunite two lovers torn apart by terror, all she'll need is a dash of courage, and the belief that God exists everywhere, even in cake..
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
August 7th 2012
by Gallery Books
(first published 2012)
Terri's Thoughts
This was a story that I randomly chose by browsing Goodreads recommendations and chose to listen to it in audio format. I didn't realize at the time that both Kristine (my co-blogger) and I had already read some of her other works. I read How to Save a Life and awarded it a five start rating while Kristine read The Room on Rue Amelie and also gave a five star rating. When I realized this I was more eager than ever to get in to the story.
Those who listen to audio books know that it takes forever to get through them as it is much faster to read the written version (unless you really speed up the program). I seemed to get through it extremely fast. The reason why? I was so engrossed in the story that I seemed to listen to it every possible waking moment. I listened with my morning coffee while catching up on the world news, while cooking dinner, while cleaning the house and while in the shower. I literally didn't put it down.
Now I must apologize that I will be unable to write the deep and moving review that I was planning as life got in the way after I finished it and some time has passed since completing it so I really wont be able to do it justice. The good news is that this is not a new story so I am confident that out of the 9.2K reviews on Goodreads, someone was able to do the justice this story deserves. If not, I know Kristine has this book on her TBR file and perhaps she will be able to give the glowing review I had planned to.
I am a sucker for wartime stories and that is likely one of the reasons why I fell in love with this story. I also found it to be a refreshing take on the genre as the majority of the story takes place in present time while only briefly slipping in to the past. The reader is putting the pieces together of Mamie's past at the same time Hope does. All of the tragedy is there however it is experienced by a third party who can't possibly truly understand the time.
I wont discuss how it ends however it got me in the gut in both a sad and happy way that one could understand by reading the story. This story stayed with me long after it finished and I would recommend it to all fans of historical fiction It has also convinced me that I should continue to explore the library of Harmel's work as she has not let me or my sister down yet.
About the Author
Kristin Harmel is the international bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF FORGETTING, THE LIFE INTENDED, WHEN WE MEET AGAIN, and several other novels. Her latest, THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE, is out now from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster. A former reporter for PEOPLE magazine, Kristin has also freelanced for many other publications, including American Baby, Men’s Health, Glamour, Woman’s Day, Travel + Leisure, and more.
Kristin grew up in Peabody, Mass.; Worthington, Ohio; and St. Petersburg, Fla., and she graduated with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida. After spending time living in Paris, she now lives in Orlando, Fla., with her husband and young son.
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