BAKING CAKES IN KIGALI

Book ID/图书代码： 00970008B22360

English Summary/英文概要： ’My cake business is doing well because there are almost no shops here that sell cakes. A cake business doesn’t do well in a place where people have nothing to celebrate…’
Meet Angel Tungaraza, professional cakebaker, amateur matchmaker, an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. Baking Cakes in Kigali is a uniquely charming, funny and touching novel of life, love and food set in a country recovering from unimaginable terror and violence.

Angel has recently moved to Rwanda with her husband, Pius. She busies herself looking after her five orphaned grandchildren and running her cake business from their home, catering for her neighbours and their friends.
Baking Cakes in Kigali is a novel in fourteen irresistible confections. A story lies behind each new order Angel receives, and she must help her clients work through their troubles. There is Ken Akimoto, whose passion for parties makes him her best customer, and his lovesick chauffeur, Bosco. There is Dr Rejoice, without whose advice Angel would never cope with her hot flushes. Angel also takes a keen interest in the love life of a local nurse; and she relishes the maternal role she is invited to play in the life of a young Rwandan couple – especially when their wedding cake seems likely to win her an international reputation.
But Angel hides her own secrets – what is behind the darkness that sometimes clouds her eyes? What is the true story behind the deaths of her two children, Joseph and Vinas?
All in all, her mixing bowl is very full indeed…

Baking Cakes in Kigali is a charming and soulful story of a country in recovery, where heartbreak lives alongside hope for the future, and in which brightly iced cakes (and the woman behind the mixing bowl) offer more than just a comforting sugar rush.

It is a book that deals with the darkest of material with a lightness of touch that is utterly deft and disarming, a book that is – at its heart – about women helping one another, and surviving all that life can throw at us one day at a time, a universal story. It is a perfect summer read, and could sit alongside books such as A History of Tractors in Ukrainian or (it has to be said), Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, with confidence and pride.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： “我的蛋糕店生意好是因為附近沒有其他家蛋糕店。
蛋糕業不景氣是因為人們沒有值得慶祝的事”...書中靈魂人物Angel Tungaraza
在這艱難的年代，屬於小人物的溫暖故事

即使日子再艱困，生活還是會繼續，在苦悶的生活中，人們如何找到值得慶祝的事，如何找到屬於自己小小快樂！
安琪是個蛋糕師，也是個業餘的媒人，有時還是一只傾聽的耳朵與哭泣時的肩膀。在這個混亂的國度盧安達，人們有各式各樣的煩惱。蛋糕彷彿具有魔力，能撫慰人心，身為蛋糕師的安琪在接受每個蛋糕的訂製時，每位客戶都會自然地說出心中的煩惱與問題，透過安琪的真心傾聽與建議，陪他們度過生命中的難關，這些客戶們最後都能笑著享用特地訂製的蛋糕。這本擁有14段人生故事的書蘊含的是我們在生活週遭能感受到的真實情感。
這個迷人、有趣與溫暖的故事將於明年1月於英國正式出版，這本還沒有許多書評及其他相關訊息，已在多國以競價方式售出，其中德國還連夜提pre-empt，美國以五位數字售出。(Vicky)

Awards/获奖情况：In a land where human tragedy is wrought in epic proportions due to AIDS, famine, and genocide, one woman has a gift for fighting hardship one cake at a time. An emigrant to the Rwandan city of Kigali, the sublimely named Angel Tungaraza creates luscious gourmet cakes for neighbors and friends, diplomats and villagers who have learned the value of celebrating life’s joys. A menopausal matron, Angel has lost both her adult children to disease and its violent adjuncts, and is now raising her five grandchildren. Such personal experience with her country’s catastrophes makes Angel the ideal confidante, a skill she puts to charming and clever use as she empathetically elicits each customer’s history with the subtle skill of a trained counselor. Client by client, cake by cake, Angel whips up the perfect blend of honor and hope, reflection and thanksgiving. A native of Zambia and consultant on AIDS and gender education, debut novelist Parkin delivers a buoyant, astute, and sensitively pragmatic portrait of contemporary African challenges. — Carol Haggas, Booklist
版權已售：
Ullstein in Germany (who pre-empted almost overnight)
auctioned to Artemis in the Netherlands
auctioned to McClelland and Stewart in Canada
auctioned to Tammi in Finland
sold in a five-figure deal to Bantam Dell in the US
Keter in Israeli publisher
Brazil

About the Author/作者介绍： Gaile Parkin was born and raised in Zambia, and studied at universities in South Africa and England. She has lived in many different parts of Africa, including Rwanda, where Baking Cakes in Kigali is set. She is currently a freelance consultant in the fields of education, gender and HIV/AIDS. As I may have said before, I am amazed that after her experiences in Africa she has written a novel which is not angry or bitter, but rather a warm, touching and utterly life-affirming tale of life, love and food set in a country recovering from many horrors.
Gaile Parkin在非洲尚比亞出生長大，曾於南非與英國就學。曾在非洲各國生活，目前在盧安達工作，擔任非洲各式重要議題如教育、性別、AIDS的顧問。

Format:MASS MARKET TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

原文第一章内容：有

手稿：暂无

大纲：暂无