Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Sugar Thief cover art

The Sugar Thief

Written by: Nancy Mauro
Narrated by: Martina Oritz-Luis, Athena Karkanis, Salvatore Antonio
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $19.76

Buy Now for $19.76

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

A delectable comedy about an imploding social media star, an Italian bakery, the treachery of fame, and the pink-frosted pastry at the heart of it all.

YouTuber Sabine Rose is a star about to go supernova. Her baking channel attracts millions, her production team agonizingly crafts her every moment, and her agent has nearly landed her a television series. But Sabine’s rise to superstardom needs a final push, and she has the perfect idea to get herself there: a well-documented visit home to her family’s bakery.

When Sabine and her chronically underappreciated producer, Wanda, arrive in Thunder Bay, the planned family reunion is quickly lost in chaos (and, as Wanda sees it, social media opportunity). Sabine’s father, the Rose family master baker, has just died. And he’s left behind a locked briefcase containing the secret pastry recipe that has made him a hometown legend.

On the cusp of going viral, Sabine finds herself unlocking the dark truths of her father’s past. Self-medicating one glass—and one handful of pharma-ceuticals—at a time, can she drag her fledgling celebrity into the big leagues before ever-loyal Wanda, sensing betrayal, turns the tables on her? Will the popular pastry and the family secrets it holds fall into the wrong hands? Or will it provide the salvation Sabine so badly needs?

Piped full of heartache and told with razor wit, The Sugar Thief is a skewering of contemporary narcissism and an ode to families that leave (almost) everything behind in search of a brighter future.

©2022 Nancy Mauro (P)2022 Penguin Random House Canada

What the critics say

"The Sugar Thief is as deliciously tart and layered as the legendary pastry at the centre of the story. I devoured it with gusto."
—Sarah Knight, bestselling author of Calm the F*ck Down

The Sugar Thief is an ingeniously plotted story about immigrant families and YouTube stars that is stuffed with knockout sentences. Nancy Mauro offers the literary equivalent of a show-stopping pastry with her surprising and satisfying novel.” —Kevin Chong, author of The Double Life of Benson Yu

The Sugar Thief is no mere confection: written with comic brio, Nancy Mauro’s heartfelt novel is also a trenchant examination of our algorithm-chasing mass culture and the knotty allegiances and legacies of family and home.” –Teddy Wayne, Whiting Award-winning author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine

What listeners say about The Sugar Thief

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Bun for All Seasons

Through the metaphor of a delectable pastry, The Sugar Thief, weaves a tale of skulduggery involving inter-generational family strife, social media influencers and a top secret recipe for the iconic treat known mysteriously as the Persian. Set in Nancy Mauro's Canadian hometown located on the magnificent northern shore of Lake Superior, an imaginative and unique plot unfolds that will captivate any reader. All the more so if you hail from Thunder Bay and grew up eating Persians. (The uninitiated reader will surely want to place the consumption of a Persian on their bucket list by the time they finish devouring this satisfying fictionalized story of the enigmatic bun).

Hopefully, the release of The Sugar Thief may well call attention to Mauro's earlier novel, New World Monkeys.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing stories, but all in one! 🙃

it's a great novel! That somewhat hit close to home, for me. The narators are fantastic. it's better then watching a show/movie. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Have fun! Isabelle

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Poor narration

Narration is Bland and boring and is run on. Ruins the book. If the story was good I couldn’t tell.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!