The Pastry Chef captures the magic of the culinary world, its delectable bakeries, and fine restaurants. Chocolate Napoleons, flaky croissants and beautifully decorated cakes are skillfully blended together in a mixing bowl of family issues, moral dilemmas, love struggles, business successes and failures and even a Wall Steet scandal. The result is a warm, page-turning story that will leave you hungry for more...and wishing for a piece of pie.
Although they do not know each other, Sadie and SueEllen’s lives became intricately and forever intertwined. Although from different backgrounds and financial circumstances, they each bravely conquer life’s pitfalls with aplomb and discover their fervor for baking. When they meet, they begin to unwind the complicated threads of their lives that first separated and finally united them.
Sadie grew up in modest circumstances in New York and at age seventeen, she ran away from home and took temporary shelter in a youth hostel in San Francisco. Alone in a strange city with no family, friends, and little money, she survives the dangers of being homeless and working in a strip club in The Tenderloin District. Through trial and error, she starts a successful cake decorating business, becoming well-known and respected among her peers in professional baking circles.
SueEllen grew up as a privileged, only child on her parent’s Texas dude ranch. Her youth was filled with indulgences and fun times and an all-consuming teenage romance with the local high school football star. At seventeen, when her parents are killed in a tragic accident, she inherits the ranch and is thrust into the complicated business of managing it and its enormous staff. In doing so, she unwittingly uncovers fraud, thievery, and betrayal. After several attempts to find her place in the world, she discovers her passion for baking and turns it into a lucrative career.
The Pastry Chef is a heart-warming story of love, family, and the captivating world of restauranteurs and pastry making. It’s a gastronomically pleasing tale of female resilience and shows the capabilities of two extraordinary women who prove that with determination, everything is possible.
