The Barcelona Bakery

Name: The Barcelona Bakery
Author: Sally Brooks

69 pages

Vanessa Romero is at a loose end. When she finds her late grandmother’s Catalan recipe book, she leaves England for Barcelona, where maybe she can find the missing page and complete a long-lost recipe. She speaks no Spanish and can’t bake, but she’s been looking for a business idea… could she learn enough to become a Catalan baker?

Meanwhile, Joey Lewis, a bilingual Brit who helps run a Pasteleria in the heart of Barcelona, is looking for a quiet life. If Vanessa’s glass is half full, Joey’s is half empty and probably has a crack in it. She has long since put her heart in a box labelled ‘do not open’ and is focused on becoming the best pastry chef she can be on the city’s famous chocolate street – Carrer Petritxol.

When Vanessa meets Joey she can’t believe her luck; can she persuade the chef to teach her both baking and Spanish? Joey would rather be left alone, but there’s something irresistible about the carefree woman and the compelling mystery of her grandmother’s recipe.

When the pair find themselves sharing more than just recipes and vocabulary they begin to wonder if this can really work, with Vanessa’s imminent return to the UK and Joey’s insistence that she’ll never leave Spain.

Can Vanessa change her ways and commit for more than a few weeks? Can Joey open her heart after so long alone? Will they solve the mystery of the old recipe book? And can their relationship survive the universe pulling them in opposite directions?

Start Reading Page List Review