The Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughan (FIC Vau)

Set in England, Eadens Grocery Stores are looking for the "New Mrs. Eaden."  Kathleen Eaden, wife of the chain owner, was celebrated not just as the author of the classic cookbook The Art of Baking but also for the way she nurtured her family through the food she cooked.  Now, a year after her death, the chain is looking for someone to once again be their public face.

We meet the five finalists who will have to cook their way through a baking competition in order to achieve their goal.  There's Jenny who's children are all away from home and who's husband has immersed himself in running marathons...and maybe something else?  And Karen whose perfect facade hides a tortured past.  Vicki left her teaching job to be a mother to her precocious three-year-old son and finds that it isn't quite what she expected.  Claire, a single mother, works for Eadens as a clerk and can't afford the expensive ingredients she sells there.  Last but not to be forgotten is Mike who is still grieving the loss of his wife but has two children to care for.

As the book progresses, we learn more about these people and what brought them to this point in their lives.  We also come to know more about Kathleen who is perhaps not the perfect figure everyone thought she was.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  At just over 400 pages it seemed long when I started it but I breezed through it in record time.  All of the characters grow (even Kathleen) as the book progresses and I came to like them all.

One word of caution, though - don't read this book if you're hungry!

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