The Best of the Backlist: Judith Ryan Hendricks

A look at worthy authors you may not know, focusing on their entire collection of in-stock backlist titles.  The backlist is a great way to meet some new authors and get a sense of their work.

Judith Ryan Hendricks

Strong women heading for change—whether they want it or not—populate Judith Ryan Hendricks’s novels.  In her first, Bread Alone, 30-something (and heading no place special) Wyn moves from LA to Seattle (not her choice, her husband left her) and hides out with the people of the night—the bakers who mold, shape, and finish the bread sold in a warm and rustic bake shop/coffee shop.  Before LA and life became complacent, she had sojourned to France, where she learned to bake.  Baking for Wyn now, however, becomes more than just a physical act, as her baking is both shaped and in turn shapes the lives of the women of the bake shop.  In The Baker’s Apprentice Wyn’s story continues—she’s still baking, shaping, and molding—but she’s trying to move on from her past and carve a new future, but she is drawn back each time…much the way she reverts to her favorite and classic baking standards in the shop  (Fair warning:  Judi Hendricks can make you hungry—very hungry—with her evocative descriptions of food, which often serve as a central focus point in her narratives and as essential components in the lives of her characters.)  Isabel’s Daughter sets a new and difference course for Hendricks, who moves away both from Wyn and Seattle (although not completely away from food), to the lushness of an artist’s life in New Mexico.  Avery James has no mother; she is a perpetual foster child in search of a link that will tell her more about herself.  When she discovers that her mother Isabel lived as an artist surrounded by circle of friends and fellow artists, she is determined to find out everything she can about Isabel, and to assume portions of her life, living as she did with the persons who meant something to her mother.  Hendricks’s writing is so complete that you don’t need neat endings every time.  And there is no neat ending to her latest (and, I believe, her BEST), The Laws of Harmony.  In it, Hendricks gives us another strong woman weakened by sadness and loss, but mostly by betrayasl of those who are closest to her.  As she moves away to forge new relationships and to learn more about the person she is, her ability to understand and accept those betrayals define her new life.  There’s also a bit of suspence and mystery in the latest book (as well as the requisite cooking tips and recipes), showing Hendricks’ increased range as a writer.