GINGERBREAD – HELEN OYEYEMI

‘A writer of sentences so elegant that they gleam’ – Ali Smith, author of How to be Both Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children s stories – equal parts wholesome and uncanny – beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Perdita Lee and her mother Harriet may appear your average schoolgirl and working mother but they are anything but. For one thing, their home is a gold-painted seventh-floor flat with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there s the gingerbread. As we follow the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work and wealth, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that holds a constant value . . . Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi s inimitable style and imagination, Gingerbread is a true feast for the reader.