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Robin Sloan
Robin Sloan is the author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, a novel that blends mystery and technology. He writes stories about the magic found in everyday life and the future of books.
Sourdough
Synopsis
Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her; feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she's providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer's market, and a whole new world opens up.
Genres
Characters
Lois ClaryProtagonist
A software engineer at General Dexterity who inherits a sourdough starter from the brothers who ran her favorite takeout counter and becomes a baker.
BeoregSupporting
One of the two Mazg brothers who run Clement Street Soup and Sourdough; the quiet baker who leaves Lois his starter before the brothers have to leave the country.
ChaimanSupporting
Beoreg's brother, the warm and talkative half of the takeout counter who handles deliveries and hospitality.
Lily BelascoSupporting
The manager who recruits Lois into Marrow Fair, an experimental underground market fusing food and technology.
Kate (Sourdough)Supporting
The chef at General Dexterity's cafeteria who first urges Lois to take her bread to the farmer's market.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sourdough part of a series?
No. Sourdough is a standalone novel by Robin Sloan, unrelated to his Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore books.
What genre is Sourdough?
Sourdough is literary fiction with a touch of magical realism: a workplace novel about tech culture that turns into a story about food and community, built around a sentient sourdough starter.
Has Sourdough won any awards?
It was a finalist for the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction and was named a best book of the year by NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Southern Living, but it has not won a major literary prize.