Perdita Lee may appear to be an average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. Then there's the gingerbread they make-- it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. And Harriet's childhood friend Gretel Kercheval seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met. Over the decades the Lees encounter jealousy, ambition, family grudges, but gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. -- adapted from back cover