Jenny Colgan Little Beach Street Bakery

Hey guys!

I wanted to do something a little different now that I haven't always got time to bake things, which is actually depressing me when I have so many things I want to make and have no time to spend doing it, all I keep thinking is I have less than two months left and then I am free to bake whatever my heart desires.. Well until I find a 'real' job which actually is easier said then done and when everyone keeps asking me what am I going to do after uni and have I applied for jobs the answer is simply no. I just find there is so much pressure that once you come out of education people are hounding you to do the next thing or to figure out your life plan.. My life plan involves baking and which ever way I can incorporate my journalism degree into that I will.

GAH.. rant over.. Maybe im just panicking because after five solid years of college and uni I will finally be done with education, Iv'e always held down a part time job you kind of have to when your a student but to find a 'proper' job, man ... 

So anyhow, this book kind of relates to my situation.. In sorts. I got this book for Christmas last year and it took me until last month to pick it up and start reading it. I just feel I have to be in the mood to read? Anyone else? Plus, it was my distraction from my dissertation when I needed a break from looking at journals. 

Little Beach Street Bakery 

Blurb

Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their townhouse, she has to move miles away from everyone, to the sleepy little seaside resort of Polbearne, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop. 


And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby, making bread, But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better, With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey, and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes... And people start to hear about it. Sometimes, bread is life.. And Polly is about to reclaim hers. 

This book for me was the best thing I have read in a very long time. Not only was it about baking, which of course I am going to love, its about so much more. It follows the story of Polly, a simple girl who lost everything as her long term boyfriends business folds. She then moves to the Island of Polbearne, which you can only get to when the tide is out in order to cross the causeway. 

Polly's determination to start a new is heart warming with some hic ups along the way, a brief encounter with a fisherman and a casual meeting with a bee keeper which turns into so much more. The story is heart warming and kept me smiling for days.. so much so that I bought the sequel straight after I had finished this book. You will fall in love with the town, the characters and the numerous amounts of breads being described. 

The main reason this book stuck with me is because of how Polly learns to live again, the little bakery is her life line and her strength to not be bullied by her landlord is something to be admired. I can relate to this book because of my determination to one day have my own tea rooms, Polly put her life on hold to save the business but now its her turn to live. The message I took from this is that no matter what you can always achieve your dreams, there is a time for them and when it comes you have to grab it by the horns no matter what. 

Also, you can tell how much this books means to me because today on the train a lady sat next to me with some focaccia, it had olives and rosemary in it and looked amazing! All i could think of was the book and how much joy I had reading it and also how much I really wanted to steal abit of the bread and run off the train!