Wow! Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson had layers and layers of complex and compelling personal stories and perspectives, which made up a family and their unique journeys. I really appreciated the cartful build up, the weight of the family tree, history, collection of ancestorial attributes, reinvention, and coming full circle. Wonderful. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

In Black Cake, a debut novel from Charmaine Wilkerson, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death and her hidden past.
At first, Black Cake didn't sound like something I would be interested in. But after so many rave reviews, I am glad that I decided to give it a try. Eleanor Bennett is the matriarch of this story. And Eleanor had some pretty big secrets that she wanted to share after her death with her two adult children. I really enjoyed this book and the dynamic between Benny and Byron, even though it is a strained relationship. I would definitely recommend this book.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

Interweaving generations of family secrets, this novel is intricate and takes the reader on a slow ride through the past and the present. Family is at the center of this novel, and it is a family you will not soon forget. Highly recommended.

Thank you to @PRHaudio for this complimentary audiobook.

I’m all about amazing characters and Charmaine Wilkerson has written an immersive story centering around Eleanor’s posthumous declaration to her children and a traditional recipe for black cake. (And yes, the cake becomes an important character.)

Benny and Byron, siblings at odds, have gathered at Mr. Mitch’s office to hear a recording that their now-dead mother, Eleanor, has made for them. Yet they are in no way prepared to hear what their mother has to say.

Through Eleanor’s narrative, we are taken back into the past, to her turbulent life on the beautiful Caribbean Islands and her daring escape off the islands. Her story spans some fifty years, and we see the racism, trauma, and heartbreak that she has had to endure.

Listening to their mother’s story, Benny and Byron are shocked by their family’s history and the secrets they have learned, but their mother has given them much power in this knowledge as well. Besides this message, Eleanor has left the siblings a traditional black cake to share - all this brings them back together.

✍️ Please take time to listen to the Author’s Notes.

Black Cake a contemporary book with a dual historical storyline and also a bit of mystery woven in. We switch between Eleanor Bennett’s coming-of-age story in the Caribbean and beyond and present-day with her two adult children. They’re estranged, but brought back together after their mom’s death. She left them a traditional Caribbean black cake and an 8-hour voice recording about her past. In it, Eleanor reveals everything from a long-lost child, to questions about their lineage, and even a a murder mystery tied to her past.

It’s an intriguing story about what we pass on and inherit from family–including recipes, secrets, trauma, and resilience. I love a good family drama, and this one is really well executed. It’s beautifully written, and I’m looking forward to what Charmaine Wilkerson puts out in the world next! Thanks to Ballantine Books for a digital review copy.

Review of Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Wow. This book surprised me. I didn’t think it was going to be my cup of tea (hello thriller lovers), but gosh was I wrong. This book is a bit of a slow burn but I loved basically every moment. It is beautifully written with characters that leap off the page. The many places this book takes you (the Caribbean, London, and finally California) also come alive. There are many characters and different story plots in this one but I was never confused or bored. It’s about the deep love people can babe for their parents, children, friends, lovers. I was so sad when it ended.

Quick synopsis: Benny and Byron have lost their mother to illness at the opening of the book. While they are essentially estranged, Benny comes home and together they listen to tapes their mother left for them. She tells them her life story. I want to say so much more because there is SO MUCH more but I don’t want to give any spoilers. You must experience it for yourself.

A big thank you to @netgalley, @ballantinebooks, for the digital copy

Lots Of Moving Parts That All Work Well. This book is a 400 page version of the first time we see a Transformer transform in the first live action movie all those years ago - so *very* many moving parts, so many that it can get quite dizzying and hard to keep up with at times, but if you put in the effort... you get a pretty solid story out of it. Though yes, it does in fact get a bit preachy at times (never enough to truly ding it a star, but enough to roll the eyes at times) and yes, with a bit of editing this story could have been much stronger overall. Still, all the various issues Wilkerson brings to the table - various race based issues, LGBT, rape, workplace discrimination (of varying forms), the ease of adopting a new identity pre-mass surveillance, etc etc etc - ultimately work to create a rich, vibrant tapestry rather than crowd each other out too much. And for a journalist turned debut novelist... this is a pretty solid indication that maybe she has something here. Admittedly, I'll be a bit leery that Wilkerson could indeed get too preachy in subsequent works... but I'm going to read the next one based on the strength of this one and find out then. Very much recommended.

Following their mother’s death, twins Benny and Byron come together to listen to an audio recording she left them, along with a Caribbean black cake that they are told to eat when the time is right. But first, they must listen: to a history their mother never shared, that began when she was a teen on an island and unfolds in a shocking tale of murder, escape, and abuse—as well as long-held secrets about her own identity and the true nature of their family.

Black Cake is a masterful exploration of generational trauma and how fear can shape lives. Alongside the family narrative is a fascinating food-centered exploration of culture, tradition, and origin, and how those things are changed and shaped over generations. The one will be on many best-of-2022 lists, and it deserves the praise.

“Tradition, his ma used to say. But whose tradition, exactly? Black cake was essentially a plum pudding handed down to the Caribbeans by colonizers from a cold country. Why claim the recipes of the exploiters your own?”

From the death of their mother, siblings Byron and Benny must reunite after their insertable bound was broken years ago. Over 8 hours in 4 days, their mother has left behind a tape recorder, a black cake in the freezer, and a lawyer who not only handled their mother’s affairs but was her lover as well. Black Cake is layered with characters as the hidden truth is revealed through travelling back to not only their mother Eleanor’s past, but other important characters as the story show what lengths people will go through to survive. Although the past reflects both Byron and Benny’s current life, we get to alternate as readers to see Byron’s fight as a Black scientist who is ambitious about his career and Benny, struggling to find her direction while also grieving the relationships she has lost.

In the end, Black Cake centers around the sacrifice women make through generations and hardship. No timeframe can minimize that as female characters show the mends to survive through different parts of the world. “Women have always had to do that sort of thing. Move on, under that kind of pressure. Act like it was nothing, their lives turned upside down”. Black Cake is culture, traditions, secrets, friendship, love, tragedy, sacrifice, greed, and survival.

My review is short with the point of not giving so much away because the twists and turns of the story will make you love some characters, dislike some characters, but most importantly, understand each character for who they are or who they have become.

Loved, loved, loved this book! There are many layers and ingredients, but Black Cake is a literary treat.

Eleanor Bennett left a curious inheritance for her children, Byron and Benny: her signature black cake and a recording. Through this tape, she finally reveals the truth of the family history that shocks her children.

This is a fantastic blend of family saga with mystery. The author slowly introduces you to her characters, reveals their secrets, and brings it all together masterfully.

I especially loved how identity is explored in so many resonant ways: through the push and pull of fact versus narrative, through characters challenging the expectations placed on them, and through the effects of colonialism and immigration across generations.

I was engrossed in this story cover to cover. Buried secrets, complicated relationships, multiple POVs, and beautiful writing. It’s a delicious recipe.

Black Cake is quite simply a thoughtful, well written and timely book. After Eleanor Bennett’s death family secrets are revealed via a recoding she has left for her children. Her revelations are surprising and shocking. Her children feel they never really knew her and at the same time these revelations explain a lot about their mother. Black Cake is a great read I highly recommend.

Black Cake is a beautifully written story. The had me hooked right from the beginning. When we meet Byron and Benny, we can feel all of the tension they are feeling in that moment. As they listen to the recording left by their mom, we share in each of their reflections of the past. At the same time, we learn about some secrets and what is going on in another place that is connected to their story. The book covers so many important topics - I love the attention given to saving/protecting the underwater garden!
Life does not happen one topic/issue/incident at a time and neither does the way this story unfolds. This is a first novel for the author and I am already anticipating the next one! I can't wait to read from her! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy (although I did not finish before publication) in exchange for an honest review.

My first bookish cry of 2022!

This book definitely hit home for me. It’s a dual-time line: Byron and Benny’s mother has passed away, and she left a recording for them to understand the path her life took.

Both time lines slowly peel away the layers of events as Benny and Byron come realize that everything they were sure they knew for certain about their parents, themselves, and each other isn’t quite true.

Charmaine Wilkerson has crafted a book that is simultaneously heartbreaking and endearing. Definitely add this one to your TBR.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC!

What a beautiful, poignant novel about family, who we are, and where we come from. Estranged siblings Byron and Benny are thrust together again when their mother Elanor dies. Elanor leaves them with a bombshell recording and a black cake, with the message to eat it the time is right. This novel beautifully transitions from the present to the past and back again, delving deep into the heritage of the Caribbean Islands, and the impact of colonialism and racism on society. The dynamics between the characters was strained, and the author did a masterful job drawing the reader into that tension. The characters grew as the story unfolded, allowing us to understand the reasons for their behavior. We watched them grow as they allowed old wounds to heal, and to find a peace with who the were and who they are becoming. This is a wonderful novel that shouldn't be missed.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Black Cake tells the story of Benny and Byron, siblings who don't have a relationship with one another. They are brought together again by their mother's death. Family secrets, struggles, and misunderstandings arise as they are joined back together. This was a good read, but not a favorite.

Wilkerson's novel is like the ebbing and flowing tide, pushing the reader out and pulling them back in. There are so many characters, and sometimes they change their names, so it can be hard to follow, but certainly never boring. This book has two main themes: intergenerational family drama is the cornerstone of the plot as we uncover who Benny and Byron's mother truly is; and a critique on culture and who can claim what as part of their culture and why.

The intergenerational family drama ties the whole story together, bringing all the loose ends into a neat picture. Eleanor Bennett, Benny and Byron's mother, is more than what meets the eye. She's had a challenging life full of twists and turns, and as her children hear more about her story posthumously, they grapple with their own identities in relationship to her and to each other.

Each of the characters contributes to the critique on culture that grows stronger the further into the book one goes. Very early on, readers discover that Benny is estranged because of her bisexuality. Meanwhile Byron pushes the envelope in his career, becoming a spokesperson for deep sea research and perseveration, and one of the only black men in his field. Black cake, for which the book is titled, comes up over and over again, as a Caribbean delicacy passed down through Eleanor's family, but of course rooted in colonization. Marble cements the conversation on culture by making it her career.

These themes at times lent themselves to the chaotic feeling of the novel, but ultimately helped to bring the story back together and tie up loose threads. When I found myself overwhelmed or confused, it helped to just keep reading, as Wilkerson eventually shed light onto the importance of each scene. Overall I found this to be an enjoyable, slow paced, thinker, with a constant edge of mystery.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me this widget to read this one early in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story of the family history that spanned decades and both Jamaican and British cultures. I found the two siblings to be interesting and enjoyed their backstories.

I did get a little confused with what seemed to be too many characters in the back stories. I ended up listening to this as I had a hard time just reading it.

Overall a good story and I enjoyed the different cultures.

Benny and Byron, two siblings torn apart by misunderstandings years ago, are forced to reunite and hear their Mother’s story on the occasion of her funeral. The story isn’t the same they learned growing up and becomes quite the journey for both of them.

Crafted with rich details of the Caribbean, the polite properness of London and the palm trees and surfboards of California, Black Cake is a self discovery for both siblings, who on their own were amazingly developed characters, but together are something more. I found this book moving and inspiring as to the extent one can go and the strength we find when we want to achieve a goal. Highly recommend this novel!

I loved this intergenerational family story! This book deserves all hype. I was slightly more interested in Covey’s story than the modern day, but I loved how it all came together.

I really enjoyed this book. It was intriguing and I had no idea how the stories would resolve themselves. I loved the family drama and the love of lifelong friends,