Product Description Baking Cakes in Kigali is a tale in fourteen confections, and behind each cake lies a story. As baker Angel Tungaraza busies herself with her customers’ orders, we learn about their lives: Ken Akimoto - with his penchant for partying, her best client - and Bosco, his lovesick driver; Dr. Rejoice, without whom she’d never cope with the hot flashes that send her delving into her brassiere for a handkerchief so often these days; Odile, an AIDS worker whose love life Angel has taken a keen interest in; and not forgetting young Leocadie, Modeste, and their baby boy, Beckham. Angel works her magic, solving problems for all around her; and in turn, they help her lay her own demons to rest: perhaps she can finally face the truth about the loss of her own son and daughter, and achieve a sense of peace . . . Hauntingly charming, funny, and involving, Baking Cakes in Kigali is a novel about the real meaning of reconciliation - about how, in the aftermath of tragedy, life goes on and people still manage to find reasons to celebrate. Review “A colorful debut novel.... Parkin offers a fascinating personal glimpse into a culture unfamiliar to most Americans.”- Kirkus Reviews"With a lightness of touch, Gaile Parkin's Baking Cakes in Kigali deftly uncovers the joys (and there are many) and sorrows of the survivors. Fans of Precious Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency will adore this too."- Daily Mail"A charming, uplifting work of fiction. It is a story of hope, often told with subtle humour."- Winnipeg Free Press"An irresistible story of laughter and hope."- The Bookseller About the Author 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 spent two years in Rwanda as a VSO volunteer at the new university doing a wide range of work: teaching, mentoring, writing learning materials, working with the campus clinic to counsel students with HIV/AIDS, and doing gender advocacy and empowerment work. Evenings and weekends, she counselled women and girls who were survivors. Many of the stories told by the characters in Baking Cakes for Kigali are based on or inspired by stories Parkin was told herself. She is currently a freelance consultant in the fields of education, gender, and HIV/AIDS. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1An AnniversaryIn the same way that a bucket of water reduces a cooking fire to ashes-a few splutters of shocked disbelief, a hiss of anger, and then a chill all the more penetrating for having so abruptly supplanted intense heat-in just that way, the photograph that she now surveyed extinguished all her excitement.“Exactly like this?” she asked her guest, trying to keep any hint of regret or condemnation out of her voice.“Exactly like that,” came the reply, and the damp chill of disappointment seeped into her heart.Angel had dressed smartly for the occasion, in a state of great anticipation of the benefits that it might bring. Completing her ensemble by pushing a pair of small gold hoops through her earlobes, she had stepped out of her bedroom and into the living room, scanning the room again to check that it was ready for her special guest. The children’s clutter had all been put away in their bedroom, and the tiled floor had been scrubbed to a shine. The wooden frames of the three-seater sofa and its two matching chairs had been polished, and each of their cushions-encased in a sturdy fabric patterned in brown and orange-had been plumped to the full extent capable of a square of foam rubber. On the coffee table she had placed a gleaming white plate of chocolate cupcakes, each iced in one of four colours: blue, green, black and yellow.Then the shout had come through the open doorway that led off the living room on to the small balcony: the signal that she had been wa

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