Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries

By Staff

I, Sunya Malhotra, am a woman who lives to bake. This morning I spring out of bed at 5 A.M., just as the sparrows are beginning to twitter, and soon drive, bleary-eyed, the ten blocks to my bakery.

Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries

Reading was a part of my life ever since I opened my eyes into the childhood. It was children's books and picturesque stories at the initial stages, which gave way to novels, bharti kirchner,book review,books,cookery,dessert recipes,dhanyasree m,india,pastries,poems,travel plans, travelogues, articles etc. suiting my age. However, one thing that had never changed was the strong bonding with between reading and munching of favourite delicacies. I always cherished coffee, desserts or any other snacks with a good book. That may be the reason why the title of Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries caught my attention.

Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries is the fourth book from the award winning Indian English writer Bharti Kirchner. An award winning cook, Bharti is also the writer of four cookbooks. Her culinary skills blend with the literary mastery in Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries to create a new genre of cookery fiction.

As the title of the novel indicates the plot is around a desserts shop named Pastries and its head baker. Baking is the life's passion for the young American woman Sunya Malhotra, where she turns her passion into delicious works of art. However the betrayal from her Japanese boyfriend, marriage of own mother to a man she detests and the competition from another baking firm put Sunya's zeal for baking at a stake. The novel then focuses on Sunya's attempts to return to her normal life.

Sunya, who has an authentic mastery of baking, is joining a Japanese school to rekindle her passion for baking. However the school turns out to be not just a baking school but is based on the principle of mindfulness. The reader then reaches a point of anticipation on what Sunya really needs to rediscover in her!

The morsels of Zen wisdom are adding more beauty to the literary creation of this novel. Kirchner continues to explore the uneasiness of cultural and spiritual identity and enjoys weaving a narrative with the elements of two very different Asian cultures. This novel is as delicious as how one could describe pastries!