The Storyteller

Ania resumes telling her story. She is in the village market trying to sell the last of her father’s baguettes to Damian, the captain of the village guard, who is handsome but “rotten to the core” (49). Damian forces a kiss on Ania and advises her to marry him so she will never have to worry about her father’s debt again. Ania breaks free and runs toward home. On the way, she passes a newcomer to town, a young man leading his “feebleminded” teenaged brother on a leash. Ania is excited to tell her father about this stranger, but as she approaches the cottage she finds her father’s brutalized body lying in a nearby stream.

In the present-day narrative, Sage stares at Josef’s photograph and tries to reconcile the laughing Nazi with the kindly old man she knows. She does not want to kill him, but she neither confirms nor denies his request before excusing herself back to the bakery, where a large crowd has gathered to see the Jesus loaf. Overwhelmed, Sage leaves and parks near Adam’s funeral home, wondering if Josef has singled her out for his confession because he can see that she too carries a guilty conscience. Sage visits Adam at work but cannot bring herself to tell him about Josef. Next, she goes to her local police station and attempts to report the confession, but the attending detective is skeptical that Josef, a valued member of the community, could be a former war criminal. Sage storms out of the station and goes to visit her grandmother Minka. Minka, too, has given up formal Judaism, but she still practices certain traditions, like baking fresh challah bread. They discuss family matters, with Minka urging Sage to call her sisters, Pepper and Saffron. Sage refuses, convinced that her sisters blame her for their mother’s death. Sage asks about Minka’s parents, but all Minka is willing to reveal is that her father was a baker in a Polish village called Łódź. The detective from the station calls Sage back and advises her to report Josef’s confession to the FBI. When Sage returns to Our Daily Bread, she throws the Jesus loaf into the fire. Rather than her usual menu, she begins baking loaves of Grandma Minka’s challah.

In the Ania story, Ania is shaken awake by Damian after dozing off in the village market, a frequent occurrence since she has taken over her father’s role as baker in addition to selling the bread. Baruch Beiler is still hassling her to pay her father's debt, but profits are dwindling as people in the village continue to turn up murdered. The newcomer appears in the market with his brother. When Ania catches his eye, she feels “as if a fire [has] been kindled beneath [her] ribs” (72). Beiler again presses Ania for money. Damian pays him off and tells Ania that she now owes him a debt. He assaults her until the newcomer intervenes, punching Damian in the face. In the conflict, his brother escapes his leash and takes off running.

The next section of the story is told from the perspective of Leo Stein. Leo is a recently-divorced 37-year-old war crimes prosecutor who works at the office of Human Rights and Special Prosecutions. Leo's job gets harder and harder as the generation of Holocaust perpetrators and survivors dies off: Most of the calls he fields are conspiracy theories or false accusations. When Sage calls him to report Josef’s confession, Leo is initially skeptical, but the unusual details of Sage’s story intrigue him. He takes the name Josef Weber to Genevra Astanopoulos, the office historian. Before he leaves work, he searches Sage’s name and watches a clip of her ducking the camera on the day of the Jesus loaf. At home, Leo finds an email from Genevra informing him that Josef Weber’s name did not appear in her search. Leo is disappointed—although he expected this outcome, he hoped to be proven wrong.

Ania’s story continues, but is now narrated by an unknown voice. It describes the way predators chase their prey, enjoying instilling terror and despair. Once they strike and kill, they have “no past, no future, no sympathy, no soul” (93).

When Sage returns to Our Daily Bread the next morning, Mary has hired another baker. Mary advises Sage to take some time off because of her recent unpredictable behavior. Sage tries to tell Mary about Josef, but Mary doesn’t believe her. Sage leaves the bakery to spend a day with Adam, but when he refuses to stay with her overnight she initiates a break in their relationship. Adam reminds her that no one will ever love her the way he does—she’s not sure if it’s a vow or a threat.

Later, Leo Stein calls to tell Sage that Genevra found no record of any Nazi named Josef Weber. Determined to prove him wrong, Sage goes to Josef’s house. Josef again asks her to kill him, but he has one more request first: He wants Sage, as a Jew, to forgive him for his crimes. Sage tells him she can’t help him without solid proof of his claims. Josef advises her to start with his real name, Reiner Hartmann. Sage immediately calls Leo to pass this information along, and he confirms that someone named Reiner Hartmann was indeed a Nazi. Sage feels conflicted about her discovery.

Ania wakes up from a nightmare about being attacked by the murderous creature, which she recognizes as an upiór (in Slavic mythology, a person cursed before death who becomes an immortal, a vampiric spirit). Someone is at the cottage door; It’s the newcomer from the market square. He introduces himself as Aleksander “Aleks” Lubov and offers to take over baking for her. Since his little brother Casimir cannot be left alone, he needs a job he can do at night while Casimir sleeps.