The Baker’s Wife is the third novel by Erin Healy. Erin Healy is an award winning editor and is best known for co-writing a few books with Author Ted Dekker. The Baker’s Wife is a serious page turner about a woman named Audrey Bofinger. Audrey use to be a Pastors Wife before that title, and that life was stolen from her when an incredible lie about her husband cost him his pastoral career. To survive Audrey and her husband Geoff open a bakery. Baking bread had always been a favorite pastime of theirs. And they regularly made bread for members of their congregation. So to become professional bakers was not a stretch.
Audrey didn’t think that life could get any worse for her family until the unthinkable happened early one morning. While driving to work with her son Ed, Audrey strikes something in the thick fog that permeates the California town where she lives in the early mornings. She hoped it was nothing serious, but that was too much to ask for.
When Audrey and her son Ed get out of the car to see what happened they found — a severely damaged scooter, an extreme amount of blood, but no body. Soon the Bofinger family discover that the victim is the wife of the family worse enemy Detective Jack Mansfield. The man responsible for the upheaval of the Bofinger family and the destruction of the career of Audrey’s husband Geoff.
Jack has convinced himself that Audrey is the one responsible for the death of his wife and he intends to see that she pays for it. However the case hits a dead-end with no new answers and no new leads which drives Detective Mansfield into the realms of insanity. In a state of increasing madness Detective Mansfield takes the Bofingers and some customers hostage. And only two of the most unlikely people, one a criminal and another an awkward teenager, can help her clear her name. But to even manage this feat she has to open herself up to both a blessing and a curse that allows her to feel the pain and suffering of others.
I thought that this was a good book. When it first started it was kind of slow going. But eventually it sped up and became much more enjoyable. I liked Audrey a lot. She had such a deep love for others and was compassionate and thoughtful, sensitive and a woman of strong faith. But she was no pushover. She was strong and the backbone of her family.
Her husband Geoff was a sweet-heart and a good -natured man. He chose to see the best in people. Their son Ed just wanted to live his life and overcome the events that not only destroyed his Fathers career, and turned his family upside down, but also affects him on a deeply personal level, which includes the loss of his college scholarship and an even deeper loss. He was sweet and kind, more like his Father than he realized but suffered a lot of pain over mistakes that he had made and struggled to see that God still loves us even when we fall. We just need to get back up, repent and begin again.
I found it hard to have any sympathy for Jack Manfield. Even before his descent into madness he was a self-righteous, arrogant jerk who viewed himself as someone that was better than all others. He believed he was a “righteous religious man who obeyed God and repented of all of his mistakes.” Though he routinely made excuses for the ugly things he did, including breaking the law to try to get Audrey convicted for his wife’s death. And had “examined his heart and found no darkness in it.” He was mean, even evil and incredibly judgmental. He took the Bible out of context to beat others with it to show how righteous he felt himself to be and how all others were of the devil; even the saved! It took the loss of his wife to cause him to lose his mind, but he was always unbalanced.
I believe that you will enjoy this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve always been a fan of Suspense novels. But this was the first one I’ve ever read that was Christian in nature and dealt with life situations from a spiritual perspective. It was a nice blend. The characters were flawed and real like
we are in real life.
The underlying message of the story seemed to be about how to love the unlovable and difficult people that come into our lives and may mean us harm and sometimes change our lives in painful ways. Painful circumstances can be overcome no matter how overwhelming. It is important to forgive. We all make mistakes, but God God still loves us no matter how big or small the mistake may be.
It was very engrossing and entertaining. It will have you on the edge of your seat as the story twists and turns and brings surprises you wouldn’t expect.
Like I said before, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And I was so sad to put it down. I give this book four stars.
Haneefah Turner Copyright © 2011 All Rights Reserved
I am a member of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger Program “BookSneeze”. I received a copy of this DVD free of charge in order to review it. I was not paid for this review. I also was not required to give a positive review, but to give my honest opinion of what I felt about the product. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. Whether positive or negative, this is my honest opinion of the product.
