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The Bakery Girls
When entrepreneurial Floyd Stitt opens a bakery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1908, his timing is perfect. Barely emancipated women eagerly buy his delicious bread, cakes and pies and Stitt's Bakery flourishes. Growing up surrounded by flour and sugar, Stitt's three attractive daughters have the bakery in their blood. Artistic Dot, enigmatic Louise and problem-solving Elaine come of age in the Depression and see the men they love to war while they continue baking and selling bread on the home front. With meticulous attention to historical detail, The Bakery Girls chronicles three memorable decades from the perspective of three remarkable sisters who understand the big difference a little sugar can make in good times and bad. Reminiscent of "Chocolat," by JoAnn Harris
444 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2011
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73 people want to read
About the author
Florence Ditlow
2 books13 followersI joined readers here to describe my work and create an avenue to connect with readers who enjoy the history of women, an uplifting story of survival through WWll, the activity of baking and finding the joy in our unique existence.
I was compelled to write The Bakery Girls about the same time my mother died, when I focused on valuable, ingenious, whimsical things I had learned from her. Gradually it occurred to me that The Bakery Girls story was an important piece of what Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.” Their work, education and relationships were culturally “iced” with remarkable politics, music, travel and slang.
Life is something like baking because you have a choice of your favorite ingredients, combine them tastefully, observe through the oven window, watch the time, then proudly share your creation. Even if your cookies quickly disappear, the spicy scent lingers as does the satisfaction. Our taste and aroma memory are vehicles to another time.
Memory of baking has surfaced as a benefit to my readers. We have special memories from the kitchens of our childhood or special trips to favored bakeries. Please share these with me via author@thebakerygirls.net, twitter or linkedin.
I’ve also authored Long in the Tooth: surviving chronic illness with a sense of humor (2002). I am a holistic registered nurse, with certificates in nutrition, herbology and bio-energy medicine, through the American Association of Holistic Nurses.
My background as a registered nurse provided opportunities to write educational materials in the ‘70’s, journal articles in the ‘80’s and textbooks in the ‘90’s.
Throughout this time, humor as a therapeutic tool surfaced. I am a charter member of the American Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor and use humor and laughter to enhance work performance, support learning, improve health and as a coping tool.
I was compelled to write The Bakery Girls about the same time my mother died, when I focused on valuable, ingenious, whimsical things I had learned from her. Gradually it occurred to me that The Bakery Girls story was an important piece of what Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.” Their work, education and relationships were culturally “iced” with remarkable politics, music, travel and slang.
Life is something like baking because you have a choice of your favorite ingredients, combine them tastefully, observe through the oven window, watch the time, then proudly share your creation. Even if your cookies quickly disappear, the spicy scent lingers as does the satisfaction. Our taste and aroma memory are vehicles to another time.
Memory of baking has surfaced as a benefit to my readers. We have special memories from the kitchens of our childhood or special trips to favored bakeries. Please share these with me via author@thebakerygirls.net, twitter or linkedin.
I’ve also authored Long in the Tooth: surviving chronic illness with a sense of humor (2002). I am a holistic registered nurse, with certificates in nutrition, herbology and bio-energy medicine, through the American Association of Holistic Nurses.
My background as a registered nurse provided opportunities to write educational materials in the ‘70’s, journal articles in the ‘80’s and textbooks in the ‘90’s.
Throughout this time, humor as a therapeutic tool surfaced. I am a charter member of the American Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor and use humor and laughter to enhance work performance, support learning, improve health and as a coping tool.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 18, 2013
It was fun to read about local places that are still around, or were several years ago. This book was discussed at library Friends' book discussion,and we skyped with the author.
March 11, 2016
What a wonderful read! All about Harrisburg from the early 1900's to 1968. I especially liked the happenings on the home front during WWII.
May 13, 2018
What a fantastic book. This is the story of the Stitt family and their bakery. The story is about the family and the three daughters lives and how they are so interwoven into the family bakery business. The story takes place during WWII and so you learn about how the family made it through those very difficult times too.
January 8, 2015
Most self-published books are badly written so I was willing to give this author a lot of grace in that area. And her story was compelling enough to keep me going. Ditlows writes of three sisters who baked their way through the Depression and World War Two. She wrote of them in her intro as "whimsical women who influenced my life, showing me the power of food prepared with love."
My chief complaint is that when she tried to turn family history into a novel she felt compelled to have each of the sisters sleep with her boyfriend. It's hard to believe that these same women who were horrified when men were fresh with them, jumped easily into bed in the most unlikely places. Sure, people slept around in the 1940's, but not girls from nice families.
Some situations were almost bizarre (Louise falling for a guy because he smelled like vanilla and later trying to transform herself into a "chocolate being" to attract Bud.) Some of the sentences were atrocious ("Then Elaine felt the overdrive of maps and lumpy mattresses and road dust and yodeling, so she craved a tub bath.") but even with all that, there was a winsome quality to the story that keeps you reading. If the book had been more tightly written, it would have been like sitting at the table with a grandparent and being regaled with wonderful stories from the past.
It was a good memoir, but a bad novel.
My chief complaint is that when she tried to turn family history into a novel she felt compelled to have each of the sisters sleep with her boyfriend. It's hard to believe that these same women who were horrified when men were fresh with them, jumped easily into bed in the most unlikely places. Sure, people slept around in the 1940's, but not girls from nice families.
Some situations were almost bizarre (Louise falling for a guy because he smelled like vanilla and later trying to transform herself into a "chocolate being" to attract Bud.) Some of the sentences were atrocious ("Then Elaine felt the overdrive of maps and lumpy mattresses and road dust and yodeling, so she craved a tub bath.") but even with all that, there was a winsome quality to the story that keeps you reading. If the book had been more tightly written, it would have been like sitting at the table with a grandparent and being regaled with wonderful stories from the past.
It was a good memoir, but a bad novel.
July 10, 2014
Interesting to read a book set in Harrisburg, 60 years ago. Sometimes the story line was a little hard to follow because it seemed like it was missing details. Probably not hard to do when the author was a participant in the events being retold.
August 2, 2012
This book was intereting in that it showed the flappers, The Great Depression and WWII from the point of view of an ordinary citizen. A little too mushy for me.
April 2, 2016
Starts breezy and a little hokey, but wins you over with three amazing sisters and great stories of Harrisburg during WWII.
August 27, 2016
Good book, brought back a lot of memories. I was born and raised in Harrisburg so all of the locations were very familiar to me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews