This month’s Book Club, we’re featuring the book Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin.
We encourage you to go out get yourself a copy of this book and follow our club. On the 28th February 2009 we will open up the conversation on this page and welcome your comments and input about the book – just like a bookclub.
Anyone can join our Book Club for Fabulous People, however, we encourage you to sign up to our exclusive book club mailing list so that you are the first to know about each month’s book. Plus, just by being on the list you stand a chance to win the month’s featured book (SA Only).
Please note that this book will only available in February 2009, so check out the bookstores then. Otherwise you can pre-order a copy via Kalahari. The suggested retail price for this book is R190.00
“A cake business doesn’t do well in a place where people
have nothing to celebrate…”
The Story
Baking Cakes in Kigali is a charming, funny and touching novel of life, love and food, set in a country recovering from unimaginable terror and violence.
It tells the story of Angel Tungaraza, who has recently moved to Rwanda from her native Tanzania with her husband Pius. Despite having to raise her five orphaned grandchildren, she still finds time to pursue her passion: her small but increasingly successful business, baking individually designed cakes for the parties and celebrations of her neighbours and friends.
Entirely aware that many of the people around her have witnessed and survived horrors she can barely imagine, Angel also knows that their lives continue, and they still find reasons for joy and celebration. As her customers tell her their stories, she comes to realise how much each of them has to mourn as well as how much they have to celebrate. And as Angel helps her customers through their problems, they in turn help her lay to rest the demons she has hidden deep inside and achieve her own peace.
About the Author
GAILE PARKIN was born and raised in Zambia, and studied at universities in South Africa and in England. She has lived all over Africa, including Rwanda, where Baking Cakes in Kigali is set.
She currently lives in Johannesburg where she is a freelance consultant in the fields of education, gender and HIV/AIDS