Sourdough by Robin Sloan

Sourdough is a magical story. I finished it in two days—I didn’t want to put it down. This novel was a truly serendipitous find in the stacks. I noticed it for the title (I love sourdough bread), and then picked it on the merits of the author’s biography (a local connection, Robin Sloan is originally from the Detroit area), and of course the back-of-book summary.

A young woman spends too much time working at the computer (guilty admission: that’s totally me), but gets swept up in a life-changing adventure based on a gift of sourdough starter (if only that were me!). What a crazy and wonderful premise! The sourdough culture is alive, the bread is amazing, and the story is rollicking. The story has a bit of the absurd with a techno-fantasy bent, but a firm tether to the real world. There is mystery, romance, and solid writing that will transport you to another world courtesy of complex micro-organisms.