The Baker's Wife by Erin Healy

The Baker's Wife

Erin Healy

Contemporary Fiction

To save her husband and son, Audrey Bofinger must rescue her enemy.
The Bofinger family has lost their church ministry in a scandal exposed by Officer Jack Mansfield. Hoping to heal and to restore their reputation, Audrey, Geoff, and their son Ed take over a failing bakery in the small community.

Driving to the bakery one morning, blinded by fog, Audrey hits a motor scooter owned by Jack’s wife, Julie. The mangled scooter is crushed and bloody. But Julie is nowhere to be found. Her disappearance coincides with a sudden illness that nearly cripples Audrey.

Jack believes the Bofingers have hurt Julie to take revenge on him, but the evidence dries up and her trail goes cold. At a breaking point, Jack takes the tiny bakery and its patrons hostage, issuing only one demand: Audrey has six hours to return Julie to him, or lose Geoff and Ed forever.

With only an excruciating and intuitive gift, an ex-con, and Julie’s estranged daughter to help search for clues, Audrey starts the search of her life for a woman who has vanished like the fog.

My thoughts…

I have been a Ted Dekker fan for quite some time, so when he teamed up with Erin Healy I naturally had to read their endeavors. I kept meaning to read Ms. Healy’s solo work but just had not gotten around to it until now. I am so glad that I picked this one up.

The Baker’s Wife is primarily a story about choices. In it we are reminded that all choices, good and bad, have consequences. Fortunately in some cases and unfortunately in others those consequences bleed over into other people’s lives. Throughout this tale we see that happening over and over. Another life lesson that we learn is that things—even those with hard evidence—aren’t always what they seem. We must rely on what the Holy Spirit reveals to us and trust in that alone.

I figured out the plot early on, but it did not matter because the exact details were still blurry. As the author filled in the details I was drawn further into the story. When I came to the last page I gave a mostly contented sigh. The ending is about the power of forgiveness and the freedom it brings, especially when it comes at a great price.

The ending left me wanting to know the rest of the story but not in an unsatisfying way. I am curious about where these characters will go from here. I would love to see a sequel or spin off but I would be okay if this winds up being a stand-alone. I tend to think of books by how I perceive my book clubs accepting them. This would be a great book club read. There is discussion questions included and the idea of discussing our thoughts on what happened after the story ended is just irresistible.


* I received an E- copy of this book from Net Galley. This blog tour is hosted by Litfuse. I was not compensated in any way. All thoughts are my own and may differ from others.