The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A historical novel inspired by the experiences of the author’s own family after the Holocaust, a sweeping saga about survival, loss, love, and the reverberating effects of war

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August 2025; Pamela Dorman Books; 978-0593830864
audio, ebook, print (432 pages); historical fiction

The Lost Baker of Vienna is a beautifully written and well-researched dual timeline novel about the chaotic years in Vienna following World War II.  The story is based on the author's family, who were Holocaust survivors. The story is told by two strong and tenacious women - Zoe in the present day and Chana, whose story starts in 1946 in Vienna.

Chana, her brother Aron, and her mother have survived the ghettos and the camps.  They have all been affected physically and emotionally, but believe that they can begin a new life in the United States, where they hope to contact family members who will sponsor them.   They manage to get out of Munich to start their journey, but end up stranded in Vienna.  To survive until they can continue their hoped-for trip to a better life, they all get jobs at the Empress Hotel doing menial labor.  There, they meet two men who will change Chana's life - Elias, an apprentice baker, and Meyer, who is a dealer on the black market.  Chana's mother wants her to marry Meyer because she believes that he can help them get to America, but Chana is more interested in Elias and often sneaks out at night to bake with him in the hotel kitchen.  Her beloved father had been a baker, and she yearns to follow in his footsteps.  Vienna in this time period was a very dangerous place - there was still considerable hatred of the Jewish people despite all they had gone through.  Plus, Vienna was a divided city and the Russian soldiers often preyed on young women.  Meyer becomes a safety net for the family and often helps them out of tight spots, but Chana is still reluctant to agree to marry him. After she does, Meyer and Elias get into grave danger, and she has to make a decision that will affect the rest of her life.

Zoe's only family is her grandfather, Aron, who is a Holocaust survivor.  Over the years, he hasn't told her much about his family, but she knew that he had a beloved sister who died in Vienna.  When Zoe is going through his papers after his death, she finds some intriguing information that makes her decide to travel to Vienna to talk to someone whose name is in her grandfather's files to try to find out more about her family.  She finds a world-renowned baker from Australia who seems to have information about her family's time in Vienna, but, at first, seems reluctant to share the information.  

In an age where the market is flooded with World War II historical fiction books, this book stands in a place of its own.  It takes place in the tumultuous years after the war ended, at a time when Jewish people from the ghettos and the camps were trying to find their way in life after all that they had been through.  They are looking for peace and happiness, but even that is denied to many of them.  It's easy to have a view that the war was over and everyone was happy, but this book educates us that there were still life-changing struggles for many of the people who had lost their homes and families.

Be sure to read the notes at the end of the book where the author shares information on her mother, aunt, and grandmother, who were Holocaust survivors, and how this book was based on their lives.  It is very heartbreaking to read, but the author definitely shines a light on their bravery with the characters that she created.  This is a debut novel for Sharon Kurtzman, and I am excited to see what she will write in the future.

This book will definitely be on my top 10 list for 2025.

Buy The Lost Baker of Vienna at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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