The Swedish Bakery: A Feminine Ode

Mona Lisa Moru, Paperback, The Swedish Bakery: A Feminine Ode - :A story told through a strong feminine gaze, which takes the reader into the stream of consciousness of four distraught, frantic, but extremely lovable women. They are all from different cultural backgrounds and generations, and their interplay is the raison d’etre of this book. They are all also all part of a place - The Swedish Bakery - Amid the swirl of the textures and smells of baking, their emotional journeys unfold. Given that Marie’s twin sister Cilla carried resentment merged with alcohol for years, it was clear which one of them was to take over “The Swedish Bakery” after the death of their grand-mother. Over the years, Marie’s life became entwined with the rituals of the bakery, and now at sixty she has accepted her destiny, and takes delight and comfort in her close relationships with two younger women, Elsa and Amira, the bakery being their touchpoint. Elsa, a young woman in her mid-twenties, works extra hours at the bakery, and is famous in Stockholm for having almost died in a car crash caused by her movie star mother, Edith Beijer. Edith died of organ failure because of the crash, leaving the six year old Elsa to fend for life on her own. Elsa finds comfort by sharing her mysterious pain with her best friend, Amira, a young Muslim woman who wears a hijab in her own stylish way, and expresses herself in a blog as a way of ‘explaining’ who she is to the world. Her life takes a huge turn when she writes a blog about how her boss discriminated against her looks and culture, and becomes somewhat famous for it. She feels confused as to why she is being recognized as a strong woman with her own opinions when she’s never been noticed in a positive way prior to that blog. Why couldn’t anyone see how rare she was before she appeared on tv? While Elsa tries to understand the illness that led to her mother’s dramatic suicide, she stays in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend she has nicknamed ‘Voldemort’. Amira needs to take space from Elsa’s negative energy, which hurts Elsa, so she befriends the cool and elegant Gerda, an aging fashionista who dresses in expensive clothes and uncommon perfume, mixed with the undeniable aromas of alcoholism. Gerda has been hurt by other friendships with women, to the point where she has to learn how to trust women all over again, and to unravel the reasons which lead to her unhealthy life choices. Elsa’s relationship with Gerda opens her eyes to the truth of what she’s had bottled up inside for years -- ‘The horrible nights’ -- and this makes her come to terms with what she needs to do to take care of her past hurts, and heal herself. While Amira takes her break from Elsa’s energy, she keeps getting booked on more tv interviews as the fame from her blog grows. The four women’s lives intertwine at The Swedish Bakery, with Marie as their spiritual center, always seeing metaphors about life in the microcosm of her shop of baked delights. Through her love of cinema and paintings, she fantasizes about places she’ll never go, characters she’ll never meet, and the sound of voices she’ll never hear. The women unconsciously attempt to heal by mirroring each other, creating a safe feminine place to learn about the reasons behind their secrets and sorrows.