Gingerbread

A modern fairy tale set in London and the fictional country of Druhástrana, British author Helen Oyeyemi’s novel Gingerbread (2019) is the story of Harriet and Perdita Lee, a unique mother and a daughter who navigate challenging issues of class, identity, memory, and female power. The almost magical gingerbread the two of them make together figures prominently in their lives and adventures, a recipe that binds them to their imaginations, their history, and one another.

The novel opens with a description of Harriet's gingerbread. It is less a sweet indulgence or a modest snack than it is a symbol of strength and vengeance. One sampler of her gingerbread once told her it was like eating revenge, like chewing on the heart of someone who hurt a person you loved. Harriet found this one of the greatest compliments she ever received about her gingerbread.

Harriet lives in London with her teenage daughter, Perdita, and her mother, Margot. Harriet struggles to fit in with the society of which she is a part. She works as a teacher, and she tries to be active in Perdita's school, but her attempts are, at best, half-hearted. She mostly focuses her energies on memories, thoughts, and regrets from her past, to the point that she has very little left over to give to reality in the here and now.



A large part of the past that consumes her is the country where she was born, Druhástrana. Druhástrana is a far-off land that many think does not even exist. Also, at the forefront of her mind is her old friend Gretel Kercheval, a charismatic woman who adored Harriet's gingerbread and played a pivotal role in her young life.

Then, Perdita goes missing. Harriet finds her daughter in her bedroom, unconscious. She rushes her to the hospital, where she learns Perdita ingested a sachet of mysterious powder, in hopes it would take her back to Druhástrana.

Eventually, Perdita wakes up, but she has lost the ability to speak. She must work diligently to reclaim her voice, relearning the basics of words and language. Her doctor advises Harriet to engage Perdita in conversation as much as she can, as this will help Perdita remember how to use her voice.



After the hospital discharges Perdita, she returns home to the gold-colored apartment she shares with her mother and grandmother. This is when Harriet decides it's time to tell Perdita about Druhástrana, of her old life there, and of her former friend Gretel and the rest of the Kerchevals.

In the past now, Margot works on a farm in Druhástrana owned and managed by Clio Kercheval. Margot and Harriet live a hardscrabble existence, and money becomes so scarce that mother and daughter must sell their treasured gingerbread recipe to Clio.

Armed with this recipe she thinks will make her a fortune, Clio hires a group of local girls, including Harriet, to serve as her "Gingerbread Girls." They are essentially a way for Clio to market the gingerbread. As time goes on, Harriet begins to understand the depths of Clio's corruption. It is almost as if Clio has stolen Margot and Harriet's voices, their identities, only to repackage and resell them to a mass-market audience. Clio's daughter, Gretel, also realizes this fact, and she helps Harriet and Margot escape to England, but not before giving Harriet a wooden ring.



Harriet and Margot flee to Whitby, England, which feels light-years away from Druhástrana, yet they remain trapped within the Kercheval family's larger sphere of influence. They now live at Kercheval House, and Harriet holds onto the hope that Gretel will soon find them and join them. But the Kerchevals in this part of the world are just as deceptive as the ones in Druhástrana, and when Margot discovers the extent of their unpleasant schemes, she and Harriet move out of Kercheval House to live on their own.

They soon find that life outside is equally difficult. The Kerchevals still hold considerable power in the community, and Margot and Harriet struggle to pay for basic necessities, trapped as they are within the expansive clutches of this family.

Time goes on, and Harriet develops a relationship with one of the Kercheval sons, Gabriel. When Harriet gets pregnant with his baby, she chooses to keep the child, even with Gabriel's lackluster support and familial ties.



As Perdita listens to her mother tell this story in the present day, she learns for the first time who her father was. But now it is time for Perdita to tell her mother a story: Perdita made her own voyage to Kercheval House and then back to Druhástrana. Despite some initial deception by a few members of the family at Kercheval House, they eventually helped her go to Druhástrana. As Harriet hears of her daughter's journey, it dawns on her how much Perdita had wanted to know about her roots and about her father's identity.

Once Perdita makes a full recovery, she, Harriet, and Margot again return to Kercheval House in Whitby. There, Harriet reconnects with Gabriel, making peace with him and with the past, and the family comes to welcome Perdita as one of them. As an olive branch, the Kerchevals offer to gift a house to the women. The women tour two of the houses, but before they reach the third, the real estate agent informs them that this house is constructed entirely of gingerbread—and the doors will only open with wooden rings.

At the novel's end, Harriet finally starts to loosen her grip on the past, committing herself to building a life beyond Gretel and Gretel's family—and beyond the memories and recriminations that have imprisoned her, her daughter, and her mother for far too long.