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After a nomadic life with her recently deceased mother, Eden, Anna Kate Callow has arrived in Wicklow to settle her Grandma Zee's estate. Before she can inherit, as per her Grandma Zee's wishes, she must work at the Blackbird Cafe and live in Wicklow for 60 days. The Blackbird Cafe is known for its magical pie - made by the female Callows generation after generation. The pie enables those who eat it to receive messages from dearly departed loved ones while they sleep via the blackbirds outside the cafe. Only a Callow knows the secret ingredient that allows for this exchange to occur; the problem is Grandma Zee never told Anna Kate the secret, so she cannot make the pies.
It is hard for Anna Kate to stay in Wicklow as her mother had forbidden her from visiting there and she has no connection to anyone or anything except Grandma Zee's bakery. Eden spent Anna Kate's whole life protecting her from all of the emotional baggage she experienced in Wicklow after Anna Kate's father's tragic death. Now, Anna Kate has to contend with running the bakery, figuring out the pie, figuring out her future and medical school, and navigating the rocky relationship with her father's family.
While this is all happening with Anna Kate, her newly discovered aunt Natalie has also returned to Wicklow with her daughter Oli. She is suffering from the trauma caused by her husband's drowning death. She has a terrible relationship with her mother but she is trying to fix it so Oli can have the kind of life Natalie wants her to have. Natalie wants to discover the truth of what happened to her husband and her brother in order to heal her broken heart.
Can Anna Kate perfect the pie recipe and carry on the Callow's magical healing? Will she leave and go to medical school? Will Natalie ever get a piece of the pie and discover the circumstances behind her husband's or brother's deaths? Will Anna Kate ever forgive her father's family and build a relationship with them? I am captivated and cannot wait to discover what happens next.
Set in 1930s/1940s Paris, this novel centres around the life of Coco Chanel. From the moment I started listening, I have been captivated by the narration and story. It starts with Coco looking outside her window at the Ritz and seeing female Nazi collaborators (Nazi's girlfriends) being harassed and abused by Parisians at the end of WWII. She knows that they are coming for her next. Then, it moves to her life before the War.
This book is interesting but, at this point, it feels like it is condoning or defending Coco's anti-Semitism. I don't like this and I have stepped away from the book for a while.
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