Faber Members get 10% off their first order

The Invention of Dr Cake

Andrew Motion

The Invention of Dr Cake, by former poet laureate Andrew Motion, is a tantalising novel about poets and their afterlives.

Out of stock

Buy from

Waterstones Bookshop.org Amazon Foyles Blackwells Guardian Bookshop WHSmith

We are temporarily only able to ship Faber Shop orders to addresses in the UK.

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9780571216321

Date Published

01.04.2004

Delivery

All orders are sent via Royal Mail and are tracked: choose from standard or premium delivery.

Summary

What is the truth about the mysterious Dr Cake? Why, at his funeral, is there no name on the brass plate so ostentatiously screwed into his coffin-lid? Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, has written a tantalising novel about poets and their afterlife.

AndrewMotion

Andrew Motion was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009 and is co-founder of the online Poetry Archive. In 2015 he was appointed Homewood Professor in the Arts at Johns Hopkins University; he lives in Baltimore.

Read More

AndrewMotion

More books by Andrew Motion

In this new poetry collection, histories – both real and imagined – meet with astute present-day perceptions to create a richly…

Randomly Moving Particles

Andrew Motion

£14.99

Andrew Motion’s 1997 ambitious and accessible collection – reissued in Faber Poetry typographic series

Salt Water

Andrew Motion

£10.99

Motion’s sixth poetry collection – a profound and tender exploration of ‘marriage’ – reissued as part of the poetry typographic series.

Love in a Life

Andrew Motion

£10.99

Andrew Motion’s first collection as Poet Laureate – now in Faber typographic series look.

Public Property

Andrew Motion

£10.99

Loss, memory, retrieval: the verse memoir of our former Poet Laureate – now in paperback

Essex Clay

Andrew Motion

£10.99

Newly jacketed reissue of Motion’s award-winning biography of this high-achieving yet tragically self-destructive family.

The Lamberts

Andrew Motion

£18.99

Newly jacketed reissue of Andrew Motion’s celebrated biography of one of England’s best-loved poets, John Keats.

Keats

Andrew Motion

£18.99

Reissue of prizewinning biography of Larkin by his literary executor and close friend, former poet laureate Andrew Motion – with new…

Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life

Andrew Motion

£18.99

Loss, memory, retrieval: the verse memoir of our former Poet Laureate, revisiting the subjects that have defined his writing life.

Essex Clay

Andrew Motion

£14.99

The stunning new sequence of poems from former poet laureate Andrew Motion

Peace Talks

Andrew Motion

£10.99

The stunning new sequence of poems from former poet laureate Andrew Motion

Peace Talks

Andrew Motion

£14.99

The Customs House is a stunning new sequence of war poems from Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate.

The Customs House

Andrew Motion

£9.99

The Customs House is a stunning new sequence of war poems from Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate.

The Customs House

Andrew Motion

£12.99

Andrew Motion’s first work of biography won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1987. ‘A biographical triumph.’ Observer ‘The story of the…

The Lamberts

Andrew Motion

£16.00

Here To Eternity in a beautiful repackage of this wonderfully accessible selection chosen by former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion.

Here to Eternity

Andrew Motion

£10.99

The Cinder Path is a new poetry collection from Andrew Motion – the last he will publish as Poet Laureate.

The Cinder Path

Andrew Motion

£9.99

The Cinder Path is a new poetry collection from Andrew Motion – the last he will publish as Poet Laureate.

The Cinder Path

Andrew Motion

£12.99

Ways of Life: On Places, Painters and Poets is a richly varied and rewarding collection of Andrew Motion’s best critical writings.

Ways of Life

Andrew Motion

£18.99

In the Blood is Andrew Motion’s beautifully written memoir of how his country childhood was shattered when his mother suffered a…

In the Blood

Andrew Motion

£10.99

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by…

William Barnes

Andrew Motion

£3.99

Andrew Motion’s In The Blood: A Memoir of my Childhood – ‘For most people childhood ends slowly, so nobody can see…

In the Blood

Andrew Motion

£16.99

First World War Poems, edited by former poet laureate Andrew Motion, is a moving and mesmerizing poetry anthology, recalling forgotten pieces…

First World War Poems

Andrew Motion

£9.99

In his first collection since being appointed Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion negotiates the very space of poetry, moving between private and…

Public Property

Andrew Motion

£7.99

In this book Andrew Motion has made his own choice from his outstandingly fine and varied body of work. Dramatic monologues,…

Selected Poems of Andrew Motion

Andrew Motion

£16.99

Wainewright the Poisoner by Andrew Motion – the acclaimed biographer of Philip Larkin and John Keats – tells the astonishing story…

Wainewright the Poisoner

Andrew Motion

£7.99

Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life is an intimate and compelling portrait of Larkin by his literary executor and close friend, former…

Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life

Andrew Motion

£17.99

This volume brings together two long poems. ‘Lines of Desire’ tells the story of an individual in crisis, under pressure from…

The Price of Everything

Andrew Motion

£7.99

Love in a Life, Andrew Motion’s sixth volume of poetry, marks a conspicuous development in the work of the founder of…

Love in a Life

Andrew Motion

£7.99

Also Recommended

Browse a selection of books we think you might also like, with genre matches and a few wildcards thrown in.

First published in 1998, Mr Fitton at the Helm tells of the further exploits of sailor Michael Fitton. When the commander-in-chief…

Mr Fitton at the Helm

Showell Styles

£12.00

An unforgettable debut set in thirteenth-century England, The Anchoress resonates profoundly with the issues facing women today.

The Anchoress

Robyn Cadwallader

£8.99

From the Costa Book of the Year-winning author of Days Without End

A Thousand Moons

Sebastian Barry

£8.99

The first volume of a new trilogy telling the saga of one French family between 1946 and 2016.

The Country of Others (Hardback)

Leïla Slimani

£14.99

Related Journal Articles

Faber’s Christmas Gift Guide 2020

Can't decide what to give your friends and family this year? Our Christmas Gift Guide is here to help. We’ve …

Feature