The Cake House (Vintage Original)

In a very short period of time, Rosaura’s life has changed drastically. Rosaura’s mother, Dahlia, left her husband and took refuge with his well-to-do business partner, Claude. But Rosaura’s father followed them and then supposedly shot himself. Now Dahlia and Claude are married, the ghost of Rosaura’s father has started appearing to her, and the Cake House—the name which Rosaura has given to Claude’s home—is full of secrets that she can’t seem to penetrate. What does Claude do? How does his son, Alex, fit in? And what really happened to Rosaura’s father?

In this dark and somewhat cryptic novel, young teenage heroine Rosaura struggles to fully understand her own past and the lies that have defined it. The Cake House is gorgeously written, full of imagery that is both poetic and shocking, stark in its examination of how the truth can destroy both the present and memories of the past. At times, it can be a bit hard to follow the story as it twists and turns, but it is well worth working through; this book faces down the full spectrum of human emotion without fear, and readers who see it through will feel validated by the ending.