“Sourdough: A Novel” by Robin Sloan

I have lived within walking distance of Clement Street in San Francisco for nearly 30 years. My list of abodes includes four apartments, and one very big house. On Clement, I took my little girls to eat at Giorgio’s Pizza and Toy Boat. I have had the Tea Leaf Salad at Burma Superstar, a glass of champagne at Chapeau and recently Shanghai dumplings at the Chili House. I have bought paint at the Ace (both locations), fresh fish at the Seafood Center and nearly gotten into dozens of car accidents as people make U-turns without any warning what-so-ever. Clement is a crazy dichotomy of people, places and food. In “Sourdough” by Robin Sloan, a new novel that was published in September, Clement Street plays a magical role in the rebirth of a software engineer named Lois Clary. She moves from the Midwest to San Francisco to work at a robotics company. She puts all of her energy into work, and crashes at night with takeout foods from a local sandwich shop called Clement Street Soup and Sourdough (a fictional location.) When the owners of the shop suddenly leave the city, they gift her with the starter for their signature sourdough bread. Lois begins casually making bread for neighbors and co-workers but her hobby soon becomes a passion and an experience filled with joy.  The chef in the cafeteria at her tech company encourages her to bring her bread to the tryouts for a series of local farmers’ markets. When she earns a spot at an off-beat market in Alameda, her world cracks open with new people and connections, and her life is never the same again. Sloan wrote a bestseller called “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” which I have not read yet. But the charm, wit and creativity that infuse every page of “Sourdough” make me want to read everything Sloan has written in the past and everything he will write in the future. Like eating a good piece of toast (at Blue Danube on Clement), I loved reading “Sourdough” and only hated to see it end. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.