Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When life goes belly up what do you do?
When the business Polly shares with her partner fails and they are declared bankrupt, Polly cannot afford her luxurious flat or lifestyle and her relationship is pretty doomed too and there’s only one thing for it...head for the tiny island resort of Polbearne. Cut off from the mainland for part of the day by the tides, Polly rents a wreck of a flat above an old disused bakery where the best thing going for it is the view! Almost penniless and friendless, Polly rescues a clumsy Puffin and starts doing the one thing she knows she is good at - baking bread, which helps her befriend a group of fishermen and eventually a bunch of locals including Huckle, an American who is also escaping his past by living the life of an almost hermit beekeeper, but not her landlady who happens to be the owner of the only bakery in Polbearne and doesn’t take kindly to anyone else providing bread to her clientele.
As events unfold Polly begins to find her niche in Polbearne and discovers that it’s not the end of the earth after all.
Jenny Colgans books always have a real feel good factor and this one is no different. I could immediately relate to Polly and especially to her falling in love with the rugged Cornish seaside resort. Life has been unkind to Polly but she picks herself up, brushes herself down and gets on with it. Her interludes with the fishermen are witty and Neil the Puffin is a piece of genius that will make everyone yearn for their own Neil. This book is full of warmth and laughter; from Neil to Jayden the young fisherman, to Polly’s materialistic friend Kerensa and millionaire Reuben, the cast of characters is eccentric and very believable; the descriptions of the countryside and the sea made me feel I was in the Cornwall I know and love and even when tragedy strikes it is written with understanding and feeling. There is really no fault that I can find with this book, I simply loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC copy.




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