THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE IDLE HOUR-TRILOGY BY ELLEN VAHR

Thea has left her family in Norway to work for the rich and powerful Vanderbilt family in America. Her dream is to make enough money to go home and buy back the family bakery. Then Amanda shows up, the cheerful girl she shared a cabin with on the crossing. Amanda’s encounter with America has been far more brutal than Thea’s, and she needs Thea’s help. America is the place of dreams and the two friends go all in and open a bakery in Brooklyn, but Amanda has her own plans. Soon Thea finds herself in an impossible situation that forces her to see herself in a whole new way.

The Brooklyn Bakery is a captivating encounter with wealth 100 years ago, and the jazz that fills New York’s dance halls. It’s a heartwarming novel about baking, friendship and love, but first and foremost it’s a story about finding your own way and being free.