Review: Patissier et Etranger

Patissier et Etranger by Laurence Raphael Brothers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My last read of 2025 was this novella, set in Paris in 1967 at a patisserie school. George Drake, the English narrator, is the only ordinary person (it turns out) among the people he knows there, but ends up playing a key role. In exactly what would be a spoiler, but let me just say that I suspect one reason the title is in French even though the book is in English is that "Étranger" has at least three different translations in English, and the one to choose might not be the one you would initially think of.

There's plenty (but not, for me, too much) of patisserie research, and 1967 Paris research, on show, enough that it feels authentic but not so much that it becomes unduly foregrounded in the "I suffered for my art, now it's your turn" way that it's so easy to fall into (looking at you, Connie Willis and Tim Powers). I thought, going in, that it might be a "cozy," because baking, and nearly everyone is nice and well-intentioned, but the baking is a background to the interactions between the characters, and to the plot.

Because it's short, it's not a complicated plot, but it has its moments of tension, mystery and suspense. The spec-fic element also isn't the point of the book, any more than the baking is, but it provides an essential element to make the plot possible.

I will mention something that, for me, didn't completely work, though I'll have to use spoiler tags for part of it. I'm one of those peculiar people who actively dislikes sweet things. Sugar makes me feel really unwell, and so I avoid it. That probably contributed to the fact that I didn't fully believe (view spoiler)[the conversion of the fanatic by means of sugary treats. As soon as he came into the scene and it was clear who he was and what his beliefs were, I thought, "I know how this is going to go," and I was right. Sugar and chocolate convinced him that his beliefs about the people of Earth being demonic and evil were, or at least might be, mistaken. Now, I always find the idea of fanatics being converted too easily hard to swallow; by definition, they have powerful defenses against shifting their opinions. But it seemed to me that even if the food itself was seductive (which I have to make an effort to imagine, because to me it wouldn't be), that would only confirm his beliefs, not challenge them. Of course, he was also seeing what normal, nice people the pâtissiers were, which probably helped. And there are reasons I haven't gone into that do make it more plausible; sugar would provide specific important benefits to his people. Still, it was a speed bump for me. (hide spoiler)]

While it does suffer from the usual novella problem of being a bit simplistic, this feels like a story that's being told at the right length for what it is. It's complete and satisfying, makes good use of its setting and its premise without going too deeply into either for their own sake, and keeps the focus on the characters and their relationships. I enjoyed it.

Disclaimers: I am on a writers' forum with the author (I don't know him well), and received a pre-publication copy via Netgalley for review.

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