Although the online synopsis of Cursed Bread, longlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction, hints at the book’s feverish trait, the angle in which Sophie Mackintosh approached the real-life event this book references—the mass poisoning in the small French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit—is one I didn’t expect, so different from what I had imagined the book would be that I was almost caught off-guard.

Elodie’s husband has a certain obsession with baking, paying closer attention to the bread he’s kneading than to her or their marriage. Elodie’s desire (or desperation) to be loved and seen thus grows thicker and more fervent the further the plot progresses, only making more apparent how different Elodie’s life is to Violet’s. Paired with the former’s outward reverence to the latter, their relationship is every bit as confusing as it is complicated. In certain parts it seems as though Elodie begins to live her life vicariously through Violet, on the surface a parasitic relationship that is in fact, as the plot would disclose, a symbiosis.

Their dynamic remains a source of intrigue throughout the length of the novel, toeing the slim line between obsession and envy, between admiration and loathing. Their back and forth gives this book life, an engrossingly turbulent relationship against the backdrop of a rather monotonous story.

I might be afraid of being forgotten, but at the same time I do not want to leave any proof behind. I live lightly in my little room.

Much to its undoing, the narration takes its sweet time, scanning every nook and cranny of Elodie’s thoughts and feelings. As a result, the prose, although beautifully written, comes off as too drawn out. I was ready for it to be over despite its brief length. A lot of the prose, although elegant, went over my head. I imagine to have remained blind to all the nuances Mackintosh might have intended to be unearthed, especially with a central relationship so frought and a narrative so thick with foreboding.

Every bit a fever dream, Cursed Bread draws you in, but holds on a little too loosely.