Book Review: The Baker’s Son: A memoir of faith, family, and ambition

Jul 14, 2013 News

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By Dr Glenville Ashby

The Baker’s Son: My Life in Business is a memoir of invaluable worth. Interweaving multiple themes into a single book is testing. However, iconic Jamaican businessman and entrepreneur, Lowell Hawthorne effortlessly pulls off this literary feat. It is a work that can easily fall under several genres: business, religion and family. These are the facets of Hawthorn’s constitution. They are inseparable and the keys of his success. Hawthorne chronicles his life in Border, a typical rustic, nondescript enclave in Jamaica’s St Andrews’ County. With eleven siblings, he describes a life short on amenities but replete in familial and communal spirit. His memory is divorced from the rivalry that can wrinkle sibling relations.

The Hawthorne home is disciplined, structured, with definitive roles. As the family bakery assumes prominence, responsibilities are shared and graciously accepted. Throughout, the matriarch and patriarch of the home hold sway. Hawthorne is beholden to both, but goes that extra yard in extolling the virtues of his father, a gentleman of sagacity, poise, unquestionable character and faith. What’s more, he is an entrepreneur, and the seed from which sprung the Golden Krust Empire.
Hawthorne’s memoir conjures a dose of nostalgia, a culture shock that intimidates, exhilarates and frightens. Any immigrant in a distant land, particularly a metropolis can identify with Hawthorne’s first day in the Bronx. The feeling of awe, trepidation and uncertainty is captured, and is arguably the backbone, the very crux of this captivating story. One could only fathom the outcome if Hawthorne had succumbed to his fears and doubts.
In the throes of indecision he draws strength from his family. ”Sonny, hang in there,” his father counsels. Again, in desperation when his supply of patties – the bloodline of Golden Krust was abruptly discontinued, Hawthorne panics, readying himself to abort his vacation and return to New York. Unhinged and impulsive – hardly the attributes of sound business, he calls his father who reassuringly offers: “Don’t leave….Don’t worry about it…some things work together for good for those that love the Lord….All things will work out for you.”
Hawthorne and siblings are forced to reconfigure plans, become wholesalers, while mastering the gourmet end of production. Sales skyrocket, and Golden Krust is redefined, a major franchiser, and a signature culinary service, with sales grossing in the tens of millions. Here, the lesson is unmistakable and so well articulated in his father’s favorite biblical verse: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and to them who are called according to His purpose.”
Throughout Hawthorne exudes grit, authenticity and faith, striking that perfect balance. He understands that faith without action is useless. Faith is the fuel, the indissoluble part of success. And in perceived failure and fear, faith sustains, enlivens, and offers hope. The Baker’s Son is not an idealistic prescription for monetizing our lives. Far from it. There is an acrid side to the business world. Golden Krust’s supply line was cut because they were expanding too quickly, and Hawthorne’s first encounter with extortionists is gripping. He recalls, his disbelief and angst, still palpable: ”Just imagine: we hadn’t made a dime, but there we were, staring down a couple of extortionists on a side walk in the Bronx.”
During such testing moments (and there are several), Hawthorne relies on faith. His son’s dance with fate, a near fatal robbery at his business, and a grave illness, draws him closer to his God.
A Baker’s Son is testament to Hawthorne’s business acumen, his determination, and belief in himself. It is instructive, guiding the neophyte in becoming an integrated individual with a responsibility to share, motivate, and inspire.
His work carries profound pedagogical roots that are cross cultural and timeless. We read: “The monuments to his memory now range from an effective nonprofit foundation to an informal shrine in my sisters Lorraine’s office…”
And later: ”Being a spiritual man, I have always wanted to have my children in church with me. I believe wholeheartedly in the principles and philosophies that my father shared, and so was determined to pass the same values to my kids I turn.”
Time and time again, Hawthorne pays tribute to his ancestors, breathing soul to the adage: ”Honour thy Father and thy mother so that your days are long and prosperous.”
For sure, his success revolves around the acknowledgment of his ancestors, their wisdom, and indefatigable drive to also honour those who preceded them. The Baker’s Son is the ultimate lesson in gratitude and a tribute to the unbreakable chain that connects the present to the past.

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The Baker’s Son: My life in Business by Lowell Hawthorne
with Michael A. Grant, 2012 Akashic Books, New York, New York
[email protected]
ISBN-13:978-1-61775-125-7
Available: amazon.com
Ratings: Highly Recommended

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