Rating: 3.125* of five

This book should have been a shoo-in for the bestseller lists. If the popularity of Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe books is any index to American willingness to embrace African women as heroes, I can think of no earthly reason this tome won't light up the charts.

I found Angel and her husband Pius to be entertaining companions. The five grandchildren they are raising in post-genocide Rwanda reflect the realities of life in Africa...orphans everywhere, no matter w More...

This book is a loosely woven amalgam of anecdotes about the lives of a group of people who come into the life of the protagonist, Angel. She happens to be the premier cake maker in Kiagali, a city in Rwanda; she is also somewhat of a sounding board and mother hen to all she encounters.

This book started out as a three-star kind of book for me. Although it is fairly light in tone, the protagonist is appealing--what grandmother of five who takes in her grandchildren after her own children die would More...

A book I normally wouldn't have read if it hadn't been for book club, I found myself enjoying it immensely. The main character, Angel, is clever and empathetic. The narration style took some getting used to, but once I figured out that Parkin was showing rather than telling, I was able to follow better. I enjoyed noticing Angel's little tell: polishing her glasses. I also enjoyed the colloquial use of language, such as the use of the word "somebody" in a context different than how American Engli More...

I debated on rating this book as a 4 or a 5. If 4.5 was an option, my dilemna would have been solved. If you love Alexander McaCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, you will enjoy this book. It takes place in Rwanda, 15 years or so after the Hutu's genocide of the Tutsis. It tackles issues such as AIDS, the after effects of the genocide, female genital mutilation and survivors' guilt, yet it is an optomistic and sometimes humourous book. Hopefully Gaile Parkin who has lived in Afri More...

This was a book I got for free in one of the giveaways. It was an amazingly well written book. I loved the main character and it was very interesting to see how she very subtly empowered the younger women and girls around her. The story takes place in Rwanda in the city of Kigali. Angel is an excellent baker of cakes and through her client's stories the author discusses the genocide in Rwanda, the AIDS epidemic in Africa, female genital mutilation and many more very serious topics in a way that More...

Angel Tungaraza, bersama suami dan anak-anaknya memutuskan pindah ke Rwanda yang baru tercabik perang. Melalui bisnis kue-kue manis yang sederhana, Angel menyajikan warna-warni kehidupan dan asa.

Novel tentang hidup di negara yang berusaha pulih dari kengerian luar biasa, membawa kita ke tempat-tempat baru dan kehidupan-kehidupan yang tak terbayangkan. "Banyak hati dipenuhi rasa sakit, banyak mata melihat hal yang mengerikan. Tapi banyak di antara hati mulai berani berharap, banyak mata mulai me More...

This book, purchased through my Audible account, presented a little bit of a challenge as an audiobook, since I had no context: was it supposed to be serious? Humorous? Sociological? Was it written by a Rwandan? How long was it?

Right off, I was struck by its "wanna be No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" flavor and its slightly awkward style, but before long I had gotten over those characteristics, and I began to enjoy the story and the interesting perspective that Parkin gave on life in Rwanda after More...

This is one of a whole new genre of novels coming from Africa, written by Africans. Ms Parkin was born in Zambia and this is her first published novel. It is a simple tale, told simply, and if it were a story about a grandmother who made special celebration cakes in London, Washington or Wellington it would never have been published. But this grandmother is Angel Tungaraza, from Tanzania, but living in a compound for foreigners, mainly those working with aid agencies and the U.N., in Kigali, Rwa More...

A wonderful surprise. Any fan of Alexander McCall Smith's #1 Ladies Detective Series will love these books

I came across this book while looking for free ebooks from my local public library. I'm so thrilled I found it. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. The characters come alive in a powerful way, and Parkin draws us into Angel's life, family and community with great skill.

As someone who has lived as an expatriate in Africa myself, this book struck a powerful chord in me, and provoke More...

This is the story of Angel and her husband, Pius, who moved to Kigali, Rwanda from Tanzania. Angel is a housewife who with her husband is rearing their grandchildren since both their son and daughter passed away. She bakes beautiful cakes to earn a living and through her work meets the various characters of the novel. They come to her to order a cake and at the time of the meeting, they tell her something about their lives which in most cases has to do with the reason for ordering the cake.

In ea More...

On the surface, there is little going on. A Tanzanian woman, living in Rwanda because of her husband's work, has a small business making cakes for all manner of celebrations. Her reputation is entirely word of mouth, as it would be in a fairly small community made of mostly foreign residents. The plot is repeated again and again: someone wants a cake, she offers them tea, and they look at her collection of pictures of other cakes she has made. They talk. She makes a cake. She talks with other pe More...

Story Description:

McClelland & Stewart|July 6, 2010|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-7710-6902-4

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 customer’s 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 handkerch More...

This is a must read

"MY INTERVIEW WITH GAILE PARKIN

Happiness after the tears
Rwandans are finding joy at last

By NICOLETTE SCROOBY

BORN in Kitwe, Zambia, Gaile Parkin , 51, studied at Rhodes University and taught English at the Fort Hare campus in Alice in the 80s. Baking Cakes in Kigali is her debut novel.

Question: Where do you write?

Answer: On whatever surface there is wherever I happen to be living. Right now, it’s the kitchen counter-top in the flat I’m renting in Joburg.

Q: Best time of day to w More...

Angel is a baker of unusual cakes in Rwanda. That is the simple story. The more complicated stories, the heartfelt stories, are told to her by her clients, who describe their complicated lives that have been affected by war, Aids, unfaithfulness, etc. These are the stories that have shaped history, not only in Rwanda, but in other African nations. Angel is the listener, the solver of problems, the healer, and person who reflects upon what she hears in a way that tests her own beliefs.

Angel coul More...

Zu Angel Tungaraza geht man, wenn man einen guten, bunten und fantasievollen Kuchen für ein Fest braucht. Sie hat sich in Kigali einen guten Namen mit ihrer Kreativität gemacht, zumal Öfen in der Gegend Mangelware sind. Sie ist Dreh- und Angelpunkt der Geschichte, mit der Gaile Parkin uns die ruandische Gegenwart näher bringt. Angel und ihr Mann sind aus Tansania gekommen, um nach dem Genozid 1994 Aufbauarbeit zu leisten und dem Land auf einen friedlichen, eigenständigen Weg zu helfen. Folgerich More...

For the first few pages of this book, I thought it was an homage to Precious Ramotswe and the No. 1 Detective Ladies' Agency series. That was not so bad; I love those books, am charmed by their simplicity and tenderness. But Parkin has something else in mind. This is a story about Rwanda after the genocide, and though it centers on a baker of cakes, a humble woman performing a humble job, interacting with her neighbors, making new friends, uncovering secrets...it is a simple, tender story set in More...

More a series of connected vignettes than a novel, Gaile Parkin’s Baking Cakes in Kigali nevertheless managed to draw me into wanting to know what would happen next, as well as caring deeply for the characters.

The main character, Angel Tungaraza is originally from Tanzania, but has followed her husband to Rwanda for the sake of his job as a consultant to the university. She is well known as a master baker for her wonderful cakes.

Angel is a wonderful, heart-warming character who manages, by the e More...

This is the other book I read this month which, on the surface, is about relationships, but underneath gives you a glimpse into a life that we can't even imagine. The heroine is a middle age grandmother living in Rwanda. Her husband is a professor who came with the UN to help rebuild the country (they are both African as well from the country next door -can't remember which one). Anyway, "Angel" bakes elaborate cakes for celebrations. People come to her and she invites them in for tea and hear t More...

I thought that this book was an accessible, sensitive treatment of modern life in Africa. The story of a Tanzanian family touched by tragedy who relocates to Rwanda manages to address a whole host of present-day issues: HIV/AIDS, FGM, foreign aid, reconciliation, religious, cultural, and economic differences, empowerment of women, effects of colonialism, etc. etc. The constant are the cakes created by the innovative and wise protagonist, Angel, and the way her role in the community draws out the More...

It's amazing how influential the protagonist's personality and worldview are on the reader's experience of the book. A book that deals with the danger, violence, and heartbreak of Rwanda's--and Africa's--history of the past couple of decades could be so many things, but when the protagonist is a wise, happy woman who loves people and is flexible enough to interact with them gracefully no matter what their stories, the reader comes away with a positive feeling, a feeling of hope and a new respect More...

So often books are either light, feel good reads or heavy, thought provoking tomes; it takes a very skilled writer to address significant social issues and world events within the context of an agreeable, charming read. Gaile Parkin is one of these rare talents. Her first novel, Baking Cakes in Kigali focuses on a menopausal Tanzanian woman, Angel Tungaraza, who has recently moved to Rwanda with her husband and their five orphaned grandchildren. Known for her brightly colored, customized iced ca More...

This book was a face to face book club pick...I live in Africa and so we usually pick Africa themed books...this was a special book. The main character Angel very slightly reminded me of Precious Ramotswe, but this book dealt with a lot heavier things.

Angel is a Tanzanian living in Kigali, in a Rwanda on it's way out of the aftermath of the genocide this is swirling around in the background as she goes about her life, she's a baker how bakes cakes for the community (something I do too so loved t More...

MY INTERVIEW WITH GAILE PARKIN

Happiness after the tears
Rwandans are finding joy at last

By NICOLETTE SCROOBY

BORN in Kitwe, Zambia, Gaile Parkin , 51, studied at Rhodes University and taught English at the Fort Hare campus in Alice in the 80s. Baking Cakes in Kigali is her debut novel.

Question: Where do you write?

Answer: On whatever surface there is wherever I happen to be living. Right now, it’s the kitchen counter-top in the flat I’m renting in Joburg.

Q: Best time of day to write?

Early morning – More...

This is the latest selection for our book group at the book store where I work. I led the group this month, so obviously, I had to read the book. Well, it wasn't terrible but it was pretty bad.

This is a debut from Parkin, who grew up in South Africa and has done lots of volunteer type work, teaching, and other good stuff. But a fiction writer she is not. The story centers around Angel, the resident cake baker for this UN type compound in Kigali, Rwanda. Various characters come to her to order ca More...

A delightful, insightful story for a first time author. I really enjoy reading about other cultures. There were several stories that finally come together in the end. Next time I read this I will write down each character as I come across them. There were lots of characters and I had a hard time keeping track of them, I think because they had unusual names.
This book reminds me of "The Ladies #1 Detective Stories" based in South Africa. Kind of the same matronly wise heroine (Angel) who is the lo More...

Gaile Parkin’s love for Africa, her birth country, is penned between every line of Baking Cakes in Kigali. Based in post-genocide Rwanda, the story follows a Tanzanian woman named Angel and her family as she runs a successful special-order cake business from her apartment while raising her five orphaned grandchildren. This loose conglomeration of stories and vignettes are centered around the cakes that Angel makes. Over cups of milky spiced tea, Angel hears the stories of a genocide survivor, an More...

As many other people I know, the sum of my knowledge about Rwanda was the genocide a few years ago, I was expecting a distressing, if not upsetting novel and I got a triumphant and wonderful book.

The story is about a woman named Angel Tungaraza, who herself is Tanzanian but is living in an International apartment complex in Rwanda due to her husband's job. Angel and her husband are raising their five grandchildren after the lose of their children and are two people who are putting on a hopeful More...

This reminds me a lot of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, only the main character bakes cakes (obviously, hence the title) instead of solving mysteries.

Angel Tungaraza is a businesswoman in Rwanda (she makes and sells these incredible-sounding cakes), but she's also a major part of the community where she lives. Each chapter is about a cake that she's making (for a wedding, a birthday, a party,etc.).

The back of the book is covered with all these grandiose claims ("Once in a great while a debut no More...

Angel Tungaraza is a Tanzanian expat in Kigali, Rwanda. Her husband works as a special consultant at a local university and she has her own home-based business, baking individually designed western-style cakes. This helps make extra money for her large family, because after the death of both her children she cares for five grandchildren and their young minder.

As Angel designs the perfect cake for each customer and occasion she gets to know her customers and becomes sometimes part of their lives, More...

Everyone needs an Angel. Especially people in Rwanda. The country has been devastated by the civil war and people are fighting various problems.

For some of them Angel, a woman who bakes cakes, literally is an angel.

Having a cup of tea and a muffin with this woman, who is originally from Tanzania, life often looks a lot brighter than it used to before. Angel doesn't just make the best cakes in town, but she also is an excellent listener.

This is how Gaele Parkin, the author who has lived in seve More...