True Loaf is a sweet, short adventure which author L. Austen Johnson based on Balkan folklore. It seems aimed primarily at readers who are middle grade and under. I enjoyed listening to the audio as narrated by Penny Scott-Andrews, especially as I was baking bread at the time. It did, however, leave me wanting more of a story and with one niggle of a baking question.
Riley works at a bakery where the owner sometimes caters to odd requests by clients. Asked to bake a loaf of bread with yarrow in it, she consents. Advised by a witch that the best yarrow is picked after twilight, she heads into the woods where darkness falls. There, she is drawn into another bargain.
Johnson has her fairy tale logic down: If you make a bargain, you must keep it. If someone offers you strange advice, you should take it. Riley, to her credit, remembers both rules herself. This makes for a satisfactory heroine but a very short (sixteen minute) story.
The atmosphere is good and Johnson is able to bring modern life in the form of cell phones into the tale without killing the fairy tale feel or the atmosphere: Riley doesn’t have cell coverage in the woods. Magic or no cell tower? It doesn’t matter. The problem is, the story stops just as Riley is on the edge of discovering magic and mystery. She’s dipped her toes in, the end indicates she is learning more. There may or may not be romance on the way–there is if you believe the title pun, at any rate. Then the story ends. Can a short story do this? Yes. Is it frustrating? Also yes.
Penny Scott-Andrews has a pleasant voice with a light British accent. She also knows how to sound breathless and excited without lowering her voice too much. I value good sound balance like this because I am generally busy while listening to tales and cannot, for example, raise the volume to listen to a whisper while my hands are covered with bread dough. Nor do I like reaching for the volume when going to sleep. This tale would, I must say, make a good tale to fall asleep to. It’s gentle enough in content for this, and Scott-Andrews’ voice is soothing.
All in all, I enjoyed my listen, but it isn’t going to become a permanent part of my listen and re-listen library.
The bread niggle: Part of the story hinges on the amount of yarrow Riley decides to pick. No one ever gives her a recipe saying she must use X amount of yarrow, and it can’t be that good as a flavoring. So why does she pick more than the minimum? Ah well.
Read this if you like folklore based stories and soothing voices and you don’t mind odd recipes and teasing endings.
The Kindle version of this tale is already out. The audio version will be available on July 27, 2021.
Find more:
“True Loaf” Amazon page
Lauren Johnson website
