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 psychological 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.

Allan Tegg was born in Newcastle, NSW. He spent his twenties working on Aboriginal communities in central Australia and the Kimberley. He now lives in Sydney. The Interpretation of Cakes is his first novel.