Helen Oyeyemi, the prize-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What is Not Yours is Not Yours, returns with a bewitching and inventive novel about motherhood, family legacy and . . . gingerbread.

'A writer of sentences so elegant that they gleam' Ali Smith

Perdita and her mother Harriet may appear your average schoolgirl and working mother but they are anything but. For one thing, their home is a gold-painted, seventh-floor flat with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread. Popular in Druhástrana, the far-away land of Harriet's youth, the Lee family gingerbread was particularly beloved by Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval. When Perdita sets out to find Gretel, Harriet's story is set to be retold. As we follow the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work and wealth, gingerbread seems to the one thing that holds a constant value . . .

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories - equal parts wholesome and uncanny - beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, Gingerbread is a true feast for the reader.

'Endlessly inventive' Oprah Magazine

'Rich, clever . . . lively and playful . . . both thoughtful and lavish . . . a bold book with a great deal of depth and mischief' Financial Times

Oyeyemi's novels are shadowy, elegant and head into entirely unexpected territory . . . Original and uncanny