Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

A sweaty summer fever dream.

Listen, I know most of you are in the throes of “spooky season,” (Can we workshop a better nickname for fall? Spooky season has paid her dues.) and want something a bit cozier to read. But I live on the surface of the sun (Phoenix, Arizona USA) and there isn’t so much as a breeze in the air until late November. If I have to suffer, you do too. And if your suffering is simply reading a summer book in the fall, cry me a river maybe?

I digress.

No matter the time of year, Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh is a hypnotizing, intoxicating read. Set in the small French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit and told from the point-of-view of a homely baker’s wife, Elodie, Cursed Bread tells the story of one town's decent into hysteria.

Unsatisfied in her marriage and all but tortured by the mundanity of her life in the bakery, Elodie develops an obsession with the charismatic new couple in town — a charming embassador and his elegant wife, Violet. She’s not the only one intrigued by the two. It seems the whole town is quite dumbfounded by their presence, keeping track of their comings and goings, whispering in the shadows, all unknowingly falling into their trap.

When strange phenomenas start plaguing the town, no one is sure who, or what, to blame. But as Elodie gets closer to the captivating couple, she finds she’s bitten off a bit more than she can chew — so to speak.

Cursed bread feels like restless sleep of a hot summer night and the foggy haze it puts you under the following day. It’s humidy. It’s a bonfire. It’s small town chatter. It’s a mystery you’ve almost solved but aren’t quite certain of. And, it’s a book worthy of putting on your to-read list.

Stars:
4/5

Notable Quotations:
“...I think that all those small and meaningless secrets gave me pleasure because they distracted from the larger terror of it all. They reduced it to something manageable and understandable; easier the mouthful of blood than the world in flames.”

“... there is heartbreak in the forgetting of heartbreak, in the forgetting of pain, which returns bright and pulsing regardless of the seconds it has been put aside. Do not leave me here, it tells you. Pain becomes an animal, walking at your side. Pain becomes a home you can carry with you.”

“Nobody, at the beginning, believes they will debase themselves for love. Nobody believes in anything else but joy.”