Gingerbread
Oyeyemi, Helen
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories
beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy
in which the inheritance is a recipe. Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing
they share a gold-painted
seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it
but it's very popular in Druhástrana
the far-away (or
according to many sources
non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread
however
is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel Kercheval —a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met. Decades later
when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend
it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy
ambition
family grudges
work
wealth
and real estate
gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying
written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination
it is a true feast for the reader.
Target Readership: