The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake [Paperback]

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s  privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.

“Moving, fanciful, and gorgeously strange.”—People

“One of the year’s highlights. Intense and compelling.”—The Oregonian

“Marvelous. . . . Few writers are as adept as Bender at mingling magical elements so seamlessly with the ordinary.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“A richly imagined, bittersweet tale.”—Vanity Fair
 
“Convincing and elegant. . . . A novel with a deeply involving plot, one full of provocative ideas.”—The Boston Globe
 
“Extraordinary. . . . Not just a deeply felt novel but one of the most inventive pieces of food writing in recent memory.”—Time Out New York 

“Profound and eye-opening. . . . You feel—that rare and beautiful gift from a truly great book—woken up and unalone.”—The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“Rose is an irresistible narrator: warm, witty and sharply observant. . . . Exuberant, life-affirming.”—The Miami Herald

“Oddly beautiful. . . . Will tempt you to see what talented writers can do when they rip little tears in the fabric of reality.”—The Washington Post
 
“The fairy-tale elements in her writing, far from seeming outlandish, highlight tls%