What an amazing novel that switches between civil war-torn Cyprus in the 1970s and North London in the same decade and that paints such an insightful picture of human motives, political disturbances, and Cypriot landscapes. The protagonist of Mary Karras' debut offering is Maria Petrakis who leaves an abusive marriage to open a bakery on Green Lanes in Harringay, at the centre of the Greek-Cypriot community. The daily chores of preparing and kneading dough that is lovingly transformed into bread, cakes and cinnamon pastries proves to be as much of a healing process to Maria as visits to her bakery prove for her new customers. Among these additional characters we get to know are Maria’s own daughter-in law who suffers from postnatal depression, Mrs Pantelis who is mourning the loss of her son, and Mrs Kotsouli, who cannot accept her son’s marriage to an English lady. Partly inspired by Mary Karras’ childhood memories, and the experiences of her parents who underwent similar journeys to fictional Mary Petrakis, this is a novel weaving a tapestry of humanity that will keep you spell-bound. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for this unbiased, honest review.

The rich description in this book is immersive. The smells, sights and thoughts transported me to a different world. It wasn’t until a third of the way through that the characters and their connections started to make sense to me. Maybe this was because of the lack of speech which makes the relationships harder to follow, coupled with the disjointed timeline. This successfully hints at three many secrets which become apparent as the story unfurls and the narrative around depression is very skilfully crafted. An interesting book set in a time and culture not often written about.

Thank you to both the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Having lived in Cyprus not long after the war, I really wanted to love this book. However I found it difficult to get into, with the way the book is written. While a lot of times the moving from past to present and back again can work well, this just felt jumbled. I did get the feel for the life before the war in Cyprus and the descriptions of the food brought back lots of pleasant memories of these pastries. There are several issues dealt with, domestic abuse, mental illness and the aftermath of civil war that are dealt with well but I couldn’t take to Maria, despite the hardships she’d been through. Not the book I’d hoped for,
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance copy.

A most confusing, muddled tale and for those with no knowledge of the Greek language possibly even more so, as continually having to flick to the glossary is tiresome.

The tempers and rages, overpowering dominance and control of the mothers, are captured well. Written with understanding and skill of the climatic conditions prevalent at the time in Cyprus and the lifestyles of the immigrant Greek Cypriots in London. The handling of the harrowing journey into a troubled mind adds a further dimension to the fractured life of Elena.

It’s a painful read with constant switching between different time zones, interspersed with reflection, spoiling chances of getting to grips with the story. Sadly though it is not until the finale that the reader is rewarded for persevering with this novel.

I really enjoyed this book.It’s a very interesting story with believable characters ,set in Cyprus and London ,which tells how Mrs Petrakis came to build her bakery business in London when she escaped from her abusive husband in Cyprus before the Civil War there in the 70s.The story jumps around quite a lot so it’s sometimes hard to remember what happened in the different time frames ,as it also tells the story of Elena, who marries Mrs Petrakis’s son Costa ,and the events that brought her to London.
The book also deals with some difficult topics-mental illness,domestic abuse ,grief and teenage pregnancy- but it’s so well written with lots of details about the wonderful food and cakes made by Mrs Petrakis ,that you just want to keep reading and hope that things work out well for the characters.
.Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC which reflects my own opinion. Highly recommended.

There is some wonderful descriptive writing in this novel, with colour, light, sounds and smells bring scenes vividly to life. Unfortunately the story did not hold my interest due to the flitting back and forth in time.. Had I been able to pick up all the chapters and rearrange them into chronological order, I am sure it would have been much more engrossing but as it is, it lacks flow.

What I found most great about this was learning about a culture i knew nothing about. Definitely an underrepresented genre and culture here, and one i was keen to learn more and more about. Set in the backdrop of a bakery- which had me peckish from the off- the novel flits from London to Cyprus and a rather broad time frame. Personally preferred the start and the London scenes.
Bit gutted with reading on kindle that i didnt know there was a glossary until i finished the book so spent time whilst reading finding out what certain Greek words and phrases meant- i think learning this adds to the reading experience, but would've saved time if i wasnt on kindle and knew about the glossary at the end!
Lots of themes within this book including marriage, relationships, children and many more. I enjoyed.