What happens when a devoted daughter begins to revive her famous-baker-dad’s recipes, and instead uncovers a hidden family history? In this case, a narrative cookbook—about people. Marcy Brenner’s devotion to her dad, Max, is evident from the first line to the last, but her journey of discovery goes back in time, to long before she tasted her first Chocolate Top Cookie. As she teaches herself to bake like a pro—by decoding Max’s cryptic, commercial recipe cards—she follows the story of generations of bakers who used love as their primary ingredient. Meanwhile, she delivers the goods for generations of Brenner’s Bakery fans who have been waiting for years for “kitchen-sized” recipes that would make their favorites come back to life. In the process of sharing her discoveries, Marcy forever marries breads and sweets to her family members who craved them. Her chapters have names like “Miss Charlotte,” and “Sisters.” The narrative format also intermingles dozens of recipes with moving stories of Marcy’s parents’ deep Southern humanity, her grandparents’ struggles—and a Jewish ancestry buried by fear. With unflinching empathy, she embraces the hope and loss that brought her Polish ancestors to America, and which connect her to a past she sensed, but never knew. She wonders aloud whether baking is in her genes, whether she’ll be able to pull off this experiment, and whether the cakes and cookies and croissants, doughnuts, breads, Boston Cream Pies, and macaroons will turn out. Maybe because true love never dies, they do.