Dinner & A Book - The Twelve Little Cakes

 This is the first work of fiction in English by the 29 year-old Dery who was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia...  Long before she was born, Dominika first appeared to her mother in a dream so she was welcomed with much love.  As the child of recognized Czech 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 Communist Party elite. Her father was an inventor whose politics resulted in this working as a taxi driver, but who remained an unrepentant optimist.  Rounding out the family is a voluptuous teenage sister and an enormous St. Bernard who was a famous Czech TV star.  Many Czechs, resigned to the dangers of living under communism, consoled themselves with the few pleasures the system had to offer: "cheap booze, public

holidays and little sausages and cakes."  Most memorable are Dery’s observations about the ironies inherent in a communist dictatorship: the elevation of private over public life.  Informers lurked everywhere.  Communism taught the working class to look out for Number One so home and family became everything. Throughout the book Dery brings out the grimly comic side of growing up under communism and how it pushed people to the brink of immorality.

 My co-host is Dr. Gabrielle Robinson who is Director of the International Program and Professor of English at IUSB. This is her third year on Dinner and a Book, and I love to welcome Gabrielle because her love of literature and her world travels give her a unique perspective on literature from other countries.