This book is about bread – why we make it, how to make it, what it has to teach us, the memories it gives us. Bread offers connection – as Jesus connected with his friends; as we connect with our children; as Demeter, the goddess of grain, bound herself to her daughter. People of every culture are tied together by the breads they bake. Bread helps us remember who we are and whom we love. Bread gives us calm. It is the opposite of fast food. You cannot make bread in ten minutes and the slow work of kneading and shaping and meditating heals our over-scheduled lives. Bread demands peace; you cannot grow grain in a battlefield. And justice: cheap bread that depends on the loss of the family farm is too bitter to eat. Bread, in fact, rises up out of the past into our fractured postmodern age. When we question all our assumptions and struggle to find a reason for existence, the making of bread gives meaning. There is no rational explanation for this – the healing power of making bread has nothing to do with the mind and everything to do with the wisdom of the hands. In this beautifully and lavishly illustrated book – you can almost smell the aroma of fresh baked bread – Donna Sinclair shares recipes and memories, stories and ideas about precious loaves that stir memory and bring pleasure. You can make your own bread (and memories) with this book; or simply contemplate the wisdom of stories found within as you visit your local bakery or make your morning toast.

Donna Sinclair travelled widely internationally and throughout Canada for 27 years as an award-winning journalist with The United Church Observer (renamed Broadview in 2019). Now retired, she continues to write occasionally for various publications. Over the last decade, she and her husband, Jim, have devoted much of their time to caring for their grandchildren and the world they inhabit. Her most recent book is Activist Alphabet (Wood Lake Publishing).

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These wonderful books explore the spirituality of several aspects of our lives. Each book covers a distinct topic and explores some of the reasons why these simple things can mean so much to us. Written by well-known authors, each of these hardbound books makes a lovely gift for anyone who enjoys these spiritual things.

Titles include:

• The Spirituality of Pets by James Taylor
• The Spirituality of Gardening by Donna Sinclair
• The Spirituality of Bread by Donna Sinclair
• The Spirituality of Wine by Tom Harpur
• The Spirituality of Mazes and Labyrinths by Gailand MacQueen
• The Spirituality of Grandparenting by Ralph and Beverly Milton

Colleen Woods, Editor of Glad Tidings Magazine