On the eve of her ninth birthday Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake & discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice. All at once her cheerful can-do mother tastes of despair & desperation. Suddenly & for the rest of her life food becomes perilous. Anything can be revealed at any meal. Rose's gift forces her to confront the truth behind her family's emotions
- her mother's sadness her father's detachment & her brother's clash with the world. But as Rose grows up she learns that there are some secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" is about the pain of loving those whom you know too much about & the secrets that exist within every family. At once profound funny wise & sad this is a novel to savour."