Baking Cakes in Kigali

Angel Tungaraza lives in a community of foreigners in Kigali. She and her husband Pius are Tanzanian, and he is on an extended leave of absence from his regular job to fill a post at the university in Kigali. Angel runs a home-based business baking cakes to help support the family, which consists of Angel and Pius as well as their 5 grandchildren whom they are raising following the deaths of their own two children. In the course of her business, there is a constant stream of people coming into Angel's home. Each one tells her that they want to order a cake and she replies by telling them to sit down and browse her photo album of cakes while she prepares tea for them both in the Tanzanian style, with sweet boiled milk and cardamom. Over show more tea, Angel draws out each client's story - for only if she becomes familiar with the client will she be able to make an appropriate cake for them. Since she relies on word-of-mouth to promote her business, she feels it is in her best interest to be sure that each cake is perfect for its occasion. And so, we become acquainted with Angel's clients and neighbors - the Canadian, the Americans, the Indians, the Egyptian, the Tanzanian ambassador's wife, the aid workers, and the Rwandan locals. Each one has a story to tell and Angel is a good listener.

Almost every disturbing or controversial topic that you can think of is discussed in this book: the AIDS epidemic, the Rwandan civil war and genocide, suicide, marital infidelity and divorce, the death of children, wildlife conservation, female "circumscision", prostitution, the role of bride price or dowry in marriage arrangements, homosexuality, ebola, religion and probably several more that I've forgotten. And yet, the book is not heavy or depressing. Angel deals with each topic that comes up with compassion and understanding - offering advice when she can and sympathy when she can't. She is open to admitting when she was wrong in her thinking - thanking the other person for enlightening her. After each encounter, we come away with our hearts lightened - and inspired by the spirit of survival and optimism that is always present, but never sickenly sweet.

In some ways, this book reminds me of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in its style and charm, but I think this one is so much better. Highly recommended. show less

An absolutely charming book! Tanzanian Angel bakes beautiful unique amazing cakes in Kigali, Rwanda, there with her professor husband teaching in the university. Each customer has a story and Angel learns a lot and shares a lot, and solves a problem here and there. She learns how the neighborhood prostitute got that job 😢 and how the local ladies handle female mutilation. Angel solves marital woes and so much more. She reminds me of Mma Ramotswe from the No. 1 Detective Agency down in Botswana. If Angel were the main character in a series I’d read all her books. Finally, this is post-genocide, and it’s a reflection of how far the country has come for the peace to be secure for such a lovely novel to exist without reference to show more Hutus or Tutsis. A great read. Highly recommended. show less

Respected as a skilled baker in her new Rwandan community, Angel Tungaraza also acts as a voice of reason and likes to solve her customer's problems whether they ask for her help or not (think of a bartender or hair dresser; someone who can listen to one's woes and offer advice for the sheer sake of chitchat). Drawing from her life in Tanzania, she manages to help her friends and neighbors in unique ways. Angel isn't without her faults, though. She protects her reputation fiercely and can come across as snobbish when she doesn't approve of the cake someone else has baked or designed. If the customer chooses colors and styles that are "boring" in Angel's opinion she secretly scoffs at them. She also carries a secret shame; one that she show more cannot even admit to herself.
Throughout Baking Cakes in Kigali I was comparing Angela to Angela Lansbury in "Murder, She Wrote." Only instead of murders, Angel Tungaraza muddles her way through issues such as adultery, ritual cutting, equal rights for women, and racial prejudices; tackling the aftershocks of societal catastrophes such as AIDS and the Rwandan genocide. show less

”Rwanda has suffered a terrible thing. Terrible, … bad, bad, bad. Many of the hearts here are filled with pain. Many of the eyes here have seen terrible things. Terrible! But many of those same hearts are now brave enough to hope, and many of those same eyes have begun to look towards the future instead of the past. Life is going on, every day. And for us the pluses of coming here are many more than the minuses.”

Tanzanian Angel Tangaraza is in Rwanda with her husband, Pius, a Special Consultant at the university. Both of the Tangarazas' children have died and they are raising their five grandchildren. To bring in some extra money, Angel has a cake business. A special occasion wouldn't be complete without one of Angel's cakes, and show more people of all backgrounds and walks of life come to her to order cakes – from diplomats to prostitutes. As they fill in their Cake Order Forms over a cup of tea, they unburden themselves to Angel. She takes an active interest in her clients' lives and she keeps her eyes open for opportunities to make them better.

The author captures Rwanda's capital as its residents begin to heal from the horrors of the 1994 genocide. Angel's position as an outsider who knows the pain of loss has the effect of inspiring confidences. Angel and her cakes become the glue that unites the international residents of her compound and its neighborhood. Angel is a lot like Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe, and I think fans of the No. 1 Detective Agency novels will want to meet Angel, too. show less

Baking Cakes in Kigali is a sweet “slice of life” book about Angel Tungaraza, a professional baker of cakes who is raising her 5 grandchildren in Rwanda. Angel‘s cakes are the talk of the town, and her kind manner encourages those who come for cake to open up about their lives. Angel bakes cakes for her whole compound and gently meddles in the lives of her customers and friends. While this book doesn‘t shy away from darker topics including Rwanda‘s genocide and HIV‘s impact on Africa, telling it from Angel‘s open-hearted perspective makes it a gentle read that puts those things in the context of a loving community that is being renewed day by day.

Angel Tungaraza is living with her husband and grandchildren in a compound in Kigali, Rwanda, where she had a cake-making business she operates out of the family’s apartment kitchen. Angel is frequently privy to her customer’s secrets, and as a “professional somebody,” she know that she must keep these confidences. But there’s nothing to say that she cannot act to try to help her customers as they negotiate the pitfalls of life, and celebrate the joys of living.

This is a delightful debut novel. I love Angel – she’s wise, discreet, confident, compassionate, decisive and a great friend and mentor. There are several humorous episodes (Capt Calixta’s belief that a white woman will marry him if he presents her with a cake!), show more and several touchingly sad ones (the unhappiness of a young bride married to a serial philanderer, or the women who feel they have no other choice but to become prostitutes to earn money to feed their families), but Angel deals with any situation with aplomb and compassion. In the process, she learns something about herself and strengthens her own marriage by opening a conversation about a very difficult subject.

Parkin peoples the novel with a wide array of characters from many walks of life: native Rwandans, Americans, Canadians, Indians, Germans, etc. Some are wealthy, some are impoverished. They all form a community and celebrate together with one of Angel’s excellent cakes, of course!

I’ll definitely read more from this author. show less

This is a superb book, and an easy read. Yes, there are difficult topics, but to leave them out would be to falsify life. Angel comes to realize that not talking about them is when they take over. I really liked the way AIDS and the genocide were treated as part of everyday life. Not as something earth shaking, just as part of what people were carrying along with them. And baking cakes for parties and celebrations is part of how people deal with it.