The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan is a sort of romance and a storyl about someone changing their life. It’s one of those feel-good, heart-warming novels that we call “Women’s Fiction” because it has a female main character and the books are mainly bought by women. I have read a lot of this sort of book and enjoyed many, but certainly not all, of them. I liked this one a lot.
Polly’s life is slowly falling apart. The successful business she has with her boyfriend has failed and she no longer feels that she belongs with him. She rents a flat above an old bakery on a small island off the Cornish coast, connected to the mainland by a tidal causeway. She begins to concentrate on herself, her love of baking, her new friends and an injured puffin which she looks after.
The author has created a strong character in Polly, who is clever but not always successful. She does sometimes make mistakes but they are understandable errors and the author does not create situations to belittle or humiliate Polly. There are a number of other characters who have their own lives and who show Polly that she can find a new way and new priorities. Obviously there is a love interest, although that doesn’t initially go very well, and lots of hurdles for Polly to overcome in her new life.
I enjoyed this novel, and its sequels which I have also now read and which continue the story, because the author isn’t too sentimental and her characters are not stereotypes. There are no real villains and the challenges that Polly faces are more realistic than you find in many books of this type. I thought that this series was very enjoyable.
Anne Is Reading 