It’s always such a pleasure to join Bookouture‘s Books-on-tour – this was a book I was particularly excited about, and it was so frustrating that I wasn’t well enough to pull a post together for the day it was due to appear. But today I’m really delighted to share my review of this perfect read – The Midnight Bakery by Emma Davies, published for kindle (just 99p when I checked yesterday – and free via Kindle Unlimited) on 15th April, and also available in paperback. My thanks to Bookouture for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley), to Noelle Holten both for her understanding and support, and to Emma for her patience.
Way back in 2015, I knew I’d discovered a rather special author when I finally read Emma’s gorgeous debut novel, Letting in Light – you’ll find my review here, along with a really lovely post from Emma about her delight in having found her passion and her dream. And then, other than one of her “shorts”, Merry Mistletoe (which I very much enjoyed – it was one of four that were later pulled together for A Year at Appleyard Farm), it was two years until I picked up another – that was Turn Towards The Sun (you’ll find my review here), and it was so lovely to return to Rowan Hill, the setting I’d so loved in the first book. And then another two years passed (I know, I can’t believe it took me that long – I’m so sorry I never got round to visiting The Little Cottage on the Hill) before I read the excellent The House at Hope Corner with its vividly described setting, characters I took to my heart, and all the warmth of the fluffiest blanket (review here). And then came The Beekeeper’s Cottage, perhaps my favourite of them all – a return to Hope Corner, but spending time with Grace and the wonderful Amos, who I will love forever (you’ll find my review of that one here).
And, like the blink of an eye, six years have now passed since I last picked up one of Emma’s books – real life intervened for both of us, but I also thought (rightly or wrongly – I suspect the latter…) that her mysteries might not be quite up my street. But when I read about her latest, everything told me I’d love it, and it’s some time since I’ve signed up for a blog tour so quickly or enthusiastically.
So let’s take a closer look…
Frankie Nightingale bakes by moonlight, kneading loaves and preparing pastries in a tiny bakery on a quiet backstreet, safe from those who have broken her heart in the past. Her new job is a chance to start again.
But one night she hears a tap at the window and handsome but shy William steps unexpectedly into her life. The welcoming scent of freshly baked bread and warm sugar tempts in more nighttime regulars, and Frankie soon finds herself surrounded by kind faces and laughter.
Frankie looks forward to her evenings, and especially William’s visits. Slowly she begins to open up to him about secrets she’s held onto for so long. Over hot chocolate and homemade shortbread, William makes her smile again, and she starts to believe her heart can be healed.
Yet just as glimmers of hope and friendship flicker in the moonlight, Frankie finds a letter neatly folded on the countertop. As she unfolds the perfect creases, her heart plummets as she sees an R scrawled at the end: will everything she’s been building towards be undone in an instant?
Can Frankie find it in herself to fight for the new beginning she deserves? Or will she have to leave the midnight bakery for good?
Fans of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont, Sally Page and Amanda Prowse will adore this totally uplifting and page-turning novel of finding friendship and belonging in the most unexpected of places.
I think you can sometimes tell, right from the opening pages, when a book is going to be everything you want it to be. From our first meeting with Frankie – not Frances, that name belongs in the former life that she was glad to leave behind – contentedly baking through the night at Duggan’s bakery in readiness for the next day’s customers, singing along to the radio, I knew I was going to really enjoy getting to know her rather better. The nights are her happy time – a world of her own, with no-one to disturb her, an opportunity to visit her happier memories, to think about her past and how her life has changed, and to cherish hopes about what the future might hold. We slowly learn more about her history, the events that knocked her confidence and made her fearful of the daytime world – but she’s not the only character in this lovely book that won my heart.
Beth is a nurse on the edge of exhaustion, working night shifts as they’re the only way she can manage the care of her husband Jack – living on a farm they’re unable to care for since the accident that left him in a wheelchair. One night, she slips on the wet cobbles outside the bakery while rushing to her car, and Frankie dashes to help her – and that proves to be the start of the friendship they need when life begins to throw its slings and arrows at them both. William works as a bouncer in a nearby nightclub, where he worries that the management might be caught up in illegal activities. He’s nearby when Frankie is disturbed by some nighttime revellers, intimidating them with his size and successfully seeing them off – and she comes to see that, despite his rather frightening appearance, he has a heart of gold, and he too becomes a regular visitor as their friendship grows. And then there’s Tam – working in a nursing home, living in his car since his life went pear-shaped – who I think perhaps might, by just a whisker, have been my favourite of them all. He used to own a horticultural business – and when his life begins yet another downward spiral, he’s perfectly placed to help out Beth and Jack with their neglected farm.
Their stories – past and present, with many emerging secrets – are so beautifully told, in third person but from their own perspectives, with extraordinary emotional depth. I grew to feel so deeply for all four, damaged in different ways by their experiences – and when it becomes clear that their individual problems are far from over, I really loved the way they were all there for each other, with support and practical help, making the relationships between them even stronger. The author’s emotional touch is perfect – they each become become a person you feel you know and really care about, each with a sad and compelling story they’ve chosen to hide from the world. And, as a reader, you become entirely part of their friendship group – hurting when they hurt, laughing with them during their lighter moments, really hoping for a change in their fortunes and a happier ending for them all, the connection that develops between them really warming the heart. And the storytelling is quite wonderful – the surprises, the disappointments, the worries, the sadnesses, the moments of drama, and the strength and joy they were able to find in each other.
The whole book felt like a warmest of hugs, through all the individuals’ many trials and tribulations up to its simply perfect ending. It’s a few weeks since I read it – in one sitting, I was so caught up in their lives – and I’m still thinking about the individuals at its heart, often with a smile, always with love. This is one that really needs to be on everyone’s reading list – I enjoyed it so much, and honestly couldn’t recommend it more highly.
About the author
After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: ‘I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three’. Well the job in the design studio didn’t work out but she’s now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.
After many years as a finance manager she now writes full time, and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her family and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It’s a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.
Pop over to her website where, amongst other things, you can read about her passion for Pringles and singing loudly in the car. You can also wave to her on Twitter, follow her on Instagram, or find her on Facebook (a little too often than is good for her) – and if you’d like to join her email list, you can do that here.
What a great book cover.