Toews linked stories present us with a boisterous and poignant family saga unlike any other in Mennonite literature Armin Wiebe author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens

Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink Mitchell Toews stories ask universal questions about belonging conforming and dissenting all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sundrenched fields of a small prairie town The answers emerge hot from the oven fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title we find ourselves in our family and memories and forgiveness as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a muchloved baseball glove Zilla Jones Journey Prize winner and finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers

Toews has that rare talent for touching your heart and being funny too Ralph Friesen author of Between Earth amp Sky Steinbachs First 50 Years