This memoir of a girl born in 1975 Czechoslovakia is some of the best creative non-fiction I've read. Dominika's mother comes from a wealthy family, members of the Communist elite, but is disowned when she marries Dominika's father... a very charming, very political, and due to his conflicts with the government, very unemployable man. Their home is subdivided by the regime into collective housing so that three families can live there. Dominika, her parents, and her older sister Klara share a home with a bachelor in the basement and a couple (professional informers) upstairs.

Dominika is very much like her father, and they are both able to charm their way out of awkward situations and into many people's hearts. Her taxi-cab driving father agrees to give a young female doctor driving lessons, and in exchange, Dominika is born in an exclusive hospital rather than the cold and oppressive hospital mandated by the state health system. When Dominika's grandmother tries to kick them out of their house, they are able to use a high profile lawyer, obtained through another taxi ride, and the house becomes theirs completely.

Much of the memoir is about Dominika's dream and ultimate reality about becoming a ballet dancer. She is able to charm and dance her way into the Communist elite territory, studying at the State Conservatory in Prague and making it all the way to the National Theater Ballet Company, all while maintaining the ideals of her family.

The Twelve Little Cakes is an extremely pleasant read and an important reminder to reassess our wants vs. our needs. A good example of this takes place toward the end of the book, when Dery writes of an incident when they were returning to Czechoslovakia from a vacation to Poland. They are having car trouble and know that if they turn off the ignition the car will not start again. But they are forced at gunpoint to turn off the car and open the trunk so the Czech soldiers can search inside. When the search is complete, the car won't turn over, so they have to push the car into their country. Dery says, "This was the happiest time in my life. The time when we had no money, no choice, and no chance."