ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— Ignacy Wadowski has taken a new and much younger wife. He is besotted, and whilst Jadwiga is attentive and dutiful, she has not allowed him into her bed. Enlisting the aid of a white witch's potion to renew his youthful vigour, Ignacy is surprised to find it is his youth that is renewed! He hatches a mischievous plan to seduce his wife, who succumbs to his wiles, but of course this leads to trouble, and twisty moral conundrums… A jolly read, full of playfulness, inventive details and entertaining wordwit. Lindy Jones
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In a corner of old Poland, near a great forest touched by magic, a baker receives a secret to help his ailing marriage. Enchantment comes but there is also a price to pay.
In a marvel of plotting, a spiral of double-identity comedy, cakes, music and moral conundrums which require the invention of photography, a Count's soiree, a squad of Cossacks and a balloon ride to Rome to sort them out, The Baker's Alchemy brings charm and triumph again to the institution of marriage.
'With its nostalgia for lost youth, rich with puns and word-play, The Baker's Alchemy is like a Brothers Grimm tale for adults, only much funnier. Strange and highly entertaining.' - Mark O'Flynn, author of The Last Days of Ava Langdon
'The Baker's Alchemy has the gleam of a ramarkable imagination and the authenticity of a folk tale. A writer at the top of his powers.' - Barry Oakley, novelist and playwright
'I enjoyed The Baker's Alchemy immensely. The tale embodies a quite wonderful use of language, wry humour and intimate knowledge of the Polish primeval forest. The subtle dislocation of reality in the service of magic is gloriously creative.' - Michael Moran, author
