The Twelve Little Cakes

Dominika Dery
Sanford J. Greenburger
Riverhead – October 2004
384 pp.

Rights sold to:
France: Lattes
Italy: Corbaccio
Germany: Heyne
Spain: Maeva

I’m thrilled to introduce to you Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery. This delightful memoir of a girl growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia in the most difficult of circumstances -- but buoyed by her family irrepressible spirit – won my heart in a way that few books have done in recent years.

As the offspring of recognized dissidents, even a very young Dominika recognizes the stigma and economic hardship that comes with being associated with the failed Prague Spring uprising. But her father, Jarda, remains an unrepentant optimist: despite being hounded from job after job, he is determined to seize the best that life can offer – from lucrative taxi driving gigs designed to elude the secret police, to speculative garage-based inventions “guaranteed” to make the family rich. Her mother, the disowned daughter of prominent Communist elites, stubbornly nurtures her family’s seemingly impossible dreams and aspirations – even in the face of her parents’ vengeful opposition. In a village full of gossipy neighbors, state informants, friendly old ladies and small-town prejudices, Dominika is aware from the beginning that her family is not quite . . . normal. And yet the fierce love, pride and quirky ingenuity that bind her family together will guarantee their survival – and ultimately, their happiness – through the best and worst of times. Equal parts poignant testimony to the struggles of a bygone era, and love letter to a joy-filled childhood that no external forces could dim, this irresistible debut echoes the charm of Lasse Hallstrom’s My Life as a Dog and the hilarious childhood adventures of A Girl Named Zippy. A cross-cultural crowd-pleaser, this memoir will speak to anyone who has ever longed for the reaffirming embrace that only family can provide.

Peter McGuigan
Foreign Rights Director

Book description:
Long before she was born, Dominika first appeared to her mother in a dream, so when she came to be, she was welcomed with eager expectation and much love. Though her arrival was auspicious, as the child of recognized dissidents associated with the failed Prague Spring uprising, Dominika’s life would be far from charmed. Her mother was disowned by her parents, who were members of the Party elite. Her father was an inventor whose politics resulted in his working as a taxi driver, but who nevertheless remained an unrepentant optimist. Rounding out the family-colorful, even by local standards-were a beautiful, voluptuous teenage sister with many male admirers and an enormous St. Bernard who was a famous Czech TV star.

In a village on the outskirts of Prague, full of gossipy neighbors, state informants, friendly old "grandmothers," and small-town prejudices, Dominika grows up a self-possessed child, whose openness and curiosity often lead her, and her family, into trouble. Yet the love, pride, and quirky ingenuity that bind them together will guarantee their survival-and ultimately their happiness-through the best and worst of times. The Twelve Little Cakes is equal parts testimony to the struggles of a bygone era and a love letter to a joy-filled childhood that no external forces could dim.

Quotes and reviews:
“The public world is rotten with lies and suspicion , but the sweet and
feisty child who dances through this memoir is a truthteller - in communist
Czechoslovakia she’s always getting into trouble for it. Perfectly
recapturing the detailed perspective of a small person looking up at adults,
DD shows us how one loved child made magic out of a society hostile to love.”
--Nuala O’Faolain

A Czech Childhood
The publisher proclaims that "it will steal your heart"; Nicholas Sparks beams that it will "take your breath away." But don’t let these fevered accolades put you off—Dery’s clear-eyed memoir of growing up behind the Iron Curtain in late 1970s Czechoslovakia is no fairy-tale fluff: think hopeful Hans Christian Andersen rather than anything Walt Disney. The title, from Dery’s love of pastries and each of the book’s 12 chapters, evokes for Dery the "little things that made us happy" in her youth and the time her family spent together.
But there is anger here, too. Communism had torn her family apart. Dery’s parents, avowed dissidents, were disowned by her maternal grandparents, who were great supporters of the status quo. Yet, typically, Dery turns this on its head, believing now these divisive politics actually made life easier. "People were forced to either stand up for what they believed in or accept the lie. There wasn’t much space for doubt," says Dery, who is now 29 and living once again in Prague. "There were good guys and bad guys, just like in a fairy tale." However, Dery points out, "not every fairy tale has a happy ending. My grandparents never reconciled with my mother. They took their grudge to their grave."
At 19, Dery left her country, vowing never to return: "I was very idealistic and angry," she tells LJ. Penniless and unable to speak English, she moved to Brooklyn, NY, working seven days a week as a waitress. Reading and writing poetry were her "only escapes from the reality of working for tips and endless hours of traveling on the subway"—that and a proximity to the Brooklyn Public Library. "Whenever I had time, I would walk to the Brooklyn library and borrow books. I was always looking for stories that would give me hope, reading them over and over." Seven years later, with four collections of poetry and a play under her belt, Dery sat down to write The Twelve Little Cakes and found her anger had given way to compassion. "My only ambition," Dery confides, "was to create a book that would cheer people up…an addition to a shelf in the Brooklyn library, where it could be picked up one day by another desperate little waitress who would read it over and over."
—Tania Barnes

About the author:

Dominika Dery was born in 1975 and grew up in Communist Prague, where she trained as a ballet daner at the National Dancing Conservatory. In 1993, after "the Velvet Revolution" had expelled the Soviets from Czechoslovakia, she went to Paris, where she studied at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre. She has written and directed a play, and is the author of three popular books of Czech poetry.