Reviews

'What David is really out to do is to explore the role of bread in English life over the past few centuries. Hence her recipe-section, too, proves to be a magnificent historical anthology filled with lore from every source imaginable - Robert May, Hannah Glasse, Eliza Acton, forgotten Women's Institute compilations, professional baking manuals, letters from readers...She goes as far afield as pizza, croissants, and a quiche involving Roquefort or other blue cheese. But her focus remains British breads, from Irish soda-bread (still called "a cake of bread" on its home turf) to crumpets...Generous quotations from memoirists, novelists, travelers, and knowledgeable acquaintances are interspersed among the old and modern recipes - without seeming in the least like window-dressing. ' Kirkus Review