'A slice of cake never made anybody fat. You don't each the whole cake. You don't eat a cake every day of your life. A cake is a party, a birthday, a wedding. A cake is what's served on the happiest days of your life. This is the story of how my life was saved by cake . . .' Feisty middle-aged housewife Ruth Hopson's life comes crashing down around her when her hospital administrator husband is made redundant. As the family's financial problems begin to mount, Ruth must also cope with her sulky teenage daughter and warring elderly parents. As she tries to keep the peace in this eccentric, disfunctional household, Ruth's only solace comes from baking cakes. But what begins as a distraction and grows into an obsession just might provide an ingenious solution to the family's dilemmas.

Jeanne Ray is a nurse, wife and mother of the novelist Ann Patchett. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.