Allan Tegg in-conversation with Deborah Boerne

The Interpretation of Cakes is like no other novel you have ever read and is one novel that you will never forget.

It’s 1916 and Isaak Brodsky has inherited his family’s patisserie in the Jewish quarter of Budapest. Here, in the midst of shelves overcrowded with marvellous, mouth-watering cakes, Isaak discovers that offering his customers the right cake leads to their spiritual growth and his own. And so, the twentieth century science of Cake-analysis is born.

This novel brings Budapest’s cafés, streets and people to life in a charming, joyous and irresistible romp through the beginnings of psychotherapy and the mysteries of the conscious and unconscious mind. Thinking, and indeed, eating cake, will never be the same again.

"The story is layered like a cake, with slices of narrative interleaved with the narrator’s insights fizzing in the brain like a contrasting ingredient that adds texture and flavour." - Lisa Hill, ANZLitLovers

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Allan Tegg is a trained psychotherapist. He has worked in private practice in Sydney for the last thirty years. Allan has become increasingly interested in the relationship between psychotherapy and culture. He has written on how psychotherapists are portrayed in different artistic mediums. The Interpretation of Cakes is his first novel.

Deborah Boerne has worked extensively in the media as a television producer, director and scriptwriter. She is fascinated by the creative process and enjoys collaborating with the artist to explore the ideas behind the work, and how it came into being.