Nancy Mauro

The Sugar Thief Nancy Mauro

A deliciously comedic family melodrama about an imploding social media star, a small-town 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, Sweet Rush, attracts millions, her production team agonizingly crafts her every (appropriate) moment, and her agent has positioned her one good meeting away from landing a Netflix series. But her rise to superstardom still needs a final push, and she has the perfect idea to get herself there: a well-documented visit home to her family's small-town bakery.

But when Sabine and her chronically underappreciated producer, Wanda, arrive in the small northern town Sabine hasn't seen in a decade, the planned reunion with her family is quickly lost in chaos (and social media opportunity). The Rose family's master baker--Sabine's father--has just died.

With her family spiralling into tragedy and farce, Sabine finds her fame growing exponentially, but also teetering on collapse, thanks to dark secrets unleashed by her father's death. Self-medicating one glass--and one handful of pharmaceuticals--at a time, can she possibly get her act together and drag her fledgling celebrity into the big leagues? Will ever-loyal Wanda, sensing betrayal, kick her boss while she's down? And will the source of the family's fortune, a famous pastry inspired by a carefully guarded old-world secret, fall into the wrong hands? Or will it provide the salvation Sabine so badly needs?

Filled with heartache and 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.