A beautifully crafted middle-grade novel spiced with magic—and gargoyles!

—from the
acclaimed author of Hour of the Bees and Race to the Bottom of the Sea.

The Patron Thief of Bread

LINDSAY EAGAR
Fished from the river as an infant and raised by a
roving band of street urchins who call themselves the
Crowns, eight-year-old Duck keeps her head down and
her mouth shut. It’s a rollicking life, always thieving,
always on the run—until the ragtag Crowns infiltrate
an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and
decide to set down roots. It’s all part of the bold new
plan hatched by the Crowns’ fearless leader, Gnat: one
of their very own will pose as an apprentice to the local
baker, relieving Master Griselde of bread and coin to
fill the bellies and line the pockets of all the Crowns.
But no sooner is Duck apprenticed to the kindly
Griselde than the young girl’s allegiances start to blur.
Who is Duck really—a Crown or an apprentice baker?
And who does she want to be? Meanwhile, high above
the streets of Odierne, on the roof of the unfinished
cathedral, an old and ugly gargoyle grows weary of
waiting to fulfill his own destiny—to watch and
protect. Told in alternating viewpoints, this exquisite
novel evokes a timeless tale of love, self-discovery, and
what it means to be rescued.

LINDSAY EAGAR is the

highly acclaimed author of
three previous middle-grade
novels: Hour of the Bees, Race
ON SALE MAY 3, 2022 to the Bottom of the Sea, and
HC: 978-1-5362-0468-1 The Bigfoot Files. She lives in
$19.99 / $25.99 (CAN) • 448 pages • Ages 10–14 the mountains of Utah with
her husband and their two
daughters.

Follow us on @candlewick @candlewickpress #PatronThief Of Bread

 Note from Lindsay Eagar
The first time I ever jotted down the idea of a sentient gargoyle grumbling from his rooftop about how
the pigeons were annoying and the nuns were too loud was sometime in 2012.

I pictured a rump made of stone, face toward the sunset. I imagined the gruff, frowning face of a
gargoyle and thought of disgruntled old men. I wrote down a few lines in a notebook in his voice: “All
I wanted was to be left alone.” “When it rains, gargoyles are the first to know.” “Only one gargoyle on
the roof of the unnamed cathedral faces west, which means only one gargoyle can see this sunset.”

Ideas tend to come to me all at once, like an avalanche. As soon as I heard the gargoyle in my head, I
knew he’d be a witness to something important from his rooftop perch. I knew there would be a street
gang of orphaned kids, à la Oliver Twist, thieving to survive the harsh world of a medieval village. I
knew there would be a quiet, unremarkable little girl who was placed in a bakery apprenticeship to
steal bread and coin.

I had the whole thing planned and ready in my head by the time I finished writing down the idea . . .
and then the idea sat. It sat and waited another four years.

In 2016, I had just launched Hour of the Bees, had a wedding, and had a baby. I had more books
under contract and plenty of deadlines, both editor- and self-imposed. I had my dream job and all the
momentum in the world to keep doing what I’d always wanted to do—sell my stories to any suckers
who would trade me stories for bread.

In truth, I had much more than that. I had a bad case of postpartum anxiety that stole my sleep. I had
a very clingy newborn who wanted to nurse ’round the clock. I had (at the time) undiagnosed ADHD
and a hyperactive mind that wanted to go, go, go . . . even when I should have been resting.

I probably should have rested.

But instead, in the lonely stretches of nighttime nursing and the stilted, unproductive moments that
make up the reality of a mother of an infant, I reached for a clean notebook.

I had deadlines, yes. But I couldn’t resist the escape that comes with pressing pen to paper and
bringing forth a new world. The gargoyle, Duck, Gnat, Griselde Baker—all of them spilled out from
my head into my notebook.

No one needed this book. It wasn’t yet acquired, and no one really knew about it. It was my secret
respite, and I wrote it bit by bit, a paragraph or a page at a time over many weeks. I only needed it to
be a comfort for me. Something cozy. Warm.

And that’s how it’s remained, through all its iterations in revision—this isn’t a book with huge stakes.
There’s no imperative to save the world. This is not a book about a chosen one; it’s a book about a
chosen family. It’s not about life or death; it’s about bread, the stuff of life.

This book probably saved me. It reminded me, many times, that writing should be an escape for
me . . . because then one day it can be an escape for a reader.

Illustration © 2022 by Beidi Guo

 Backlist

«“Through this atmospheric setting, Eagar sustains

a sense of wonder and longing for small things (bees,
seeds, stories) to respond to big human needs.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Mystical, memorable riddle of a book.”
—The Wall Street Journal

HC: 978-0-7636-7922-4 • PB: 978-0-7636-9120-2

Also available as an e-book and in audio

«“Earnest and exciting.”

—Booklist (starred review)
“A thrilling narrative that is part pirate adventure, part
love story, and part coming-of-age tale.”
—The Buffalo News

HC: 978-0-7636-7923-1 • PB: 978-0-7636-9877-5

Also available as an e-book and in audio

“A spiraling, effusive third-person narration amplifies

both the wildness of Miranda’s thoughts and the awe-
inspiring, almost mystical forest. . . . An engaging yarn
that blurs myth and reality.”
—The Horn Book

HC: 978-0-7636-9234-6 • PB: 978-1-5362-0617-3

Also available as an e-book and in audio