The publishing world might as well take the rest of 2022 off, because I don’t see how anything could possibly top Black Cake. It’s perfect. It’s a dream. It’s incredible. It’s a DEBUT?! Are you kidding me?! Charmaine Wilkerson is absolutely brilliant and I want ten more novels from her immediately. This was such a rich and layered story and I loved the slow burn of it all. Deep and complex family sagas are kind of my kryptonite and this one almost took me all the way out. I really don’t know of anyone who doesn’t somehow fall into the audience for this book—there’s something for everyone. I’m calling now that this will be on every “best of” list this year. It will certainly be on mine!

Thank you for this ARC! I enjoyed this debut novel! The characters were people you rooted for and the story was a bit of a page turner. However, it did feel too long at times, like the story could have been told much quicker. This does not take away from the overall charm and I think this is an important story to tell and to read. It would be great for a book club or even a culinary club. The references to food and culture were one of the best parts! I am excited to see how this book is adapted for TV, especially since Oprah's name is attached to it!

A decent story that is really bogged down by it's length and lack of direction. It starts off pretty strong, but eventually meanders all over the place and tries to fit 500 different story lines into one. It also doesn't help that the last third of the book is pretty much revealed in earlier chapters and you just have to slog through them to get to an end you already know is going to happen. I also felt it a little hard to like any of the characters and thus couldn't really get invested in their stories. If only it ended at the half way point it could have been a lot stronger.

I’m feeling a little out of sorts with this one… I thought I would love it based on other reviews I read, but it was not my favorite. I thought the story dragged at times, and was quite long. I struggled to keep up because I felt like the story jumped around more than I would like. The characters were just okay… I don’t think this one was for me.

The story telling is just wonderful.
The book explores family relationships and buried secrets. It teaches us that life is too short for disagreements and resentments.
I absolutely loved this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for the copy of this book. This is a beautiful story of secrets, determination, love, race, the oceans, and identity. The first thing that drew me in was the beautiful writing. The words flowed so well I had a hard time putting this book down. Even as more characters and stories appeared I kept reading because of the writing. Not a word was wasted because everything came together in the end. I am not sure I ever really connected to any of the characters until later in the book. When I did connect, I loved Benny, Eleanor, and Byron as well as many of the other assortment of people we met. I loved how each story intertwined. The story was intriguing and multi-faceted. This is a fascinating debut book that you should read if you are looking for an immersive reading experience.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Kathleen Quinlan at Ballantine, and Charmaine Wilkerson for an ARC of this book!**

Black Cake at its core is the story of Eleanor Bennett as related to her children, estranged siblings Byron and Benny. But Eleanor’s story comes in a strange package: a voice recording, left to her children upon her death. As the tape plays, what unfolds is the story of an extraordinary life. Island dreams and family rupture. Lost friendship and found identity. As Byron and Benny hear their mother’s tales for the first time, they discover not only who Eleanor was, but how they’ve come to their current places in the world—and how they might thaw the coldness that had grown between them.

A beautifully written book about family and how we can tear each other apart by protecting those closest to us and come back together if we are lucky enough. In this debut novel, Charmaine Wilkerson weaves a story of love, loss and the traditions that hold us together. A wonderful book club pick with many discussions to be had.

HOW IS THIS A DEBUT?! I love a novel rooted in family conflict and Black Cake is a masterclass in it. Definitely not a fast read by any stretch of the imagination, this book is best savored when you can really dedicate the time to it.

Siblings Byron and Benny Bennett are brought together to listen to the eight hour audio that their mother, Eleanor Bennett, recorded before she passed. As their mother begins to speak, Byron and Benny realize that they didn't know their mother at all as she had many secrets leaving them to wonder about their own lives. Their mother's story is sad and shocking and Byron and Benny struggle to accept the new information. Black Cake is a constant through their lives. Their mother carried the recipe from her youth in the Caribbean and made Black Cake many times through the years, Byron and Benny understood the significance of Black Cake and the love and comfort it brought to their mother in sharing the cake with them. Although Bryon and Benny were grateful to learn their mother's secrets, they were left with many questions that left them reeling. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson began slowly, but as the Eleanor Bennet's story unfolded, I was entranced. Thank you to Kathleen Quinlan at Penguin Random House and Net Galley for an ARC of Black Cake.

This debut novel is stunning. A blend of historical and literary fiction, this intergeneration story follows (mostly) two timelines: the 1960s in the Caribbean, and present day California. We start in present day, meeting estranged siblings Byron and Benny, who are forced together after eight years of not speaking when their mother dies and leaves a recording she's required them to listen to together. In it, she shares her history, a history her children never knew, flashing us back to the other timeline and how it intersects with the present. While the overarching story is about their mother and her life, listening to her recording is also interspersed with getting Benny and Byron's perspectives, learning more about their lives and what led them to not speak for the better part of a decade.

In my reading tracker spreadsheet, I often add short notes about how I'm feeling immediately after finishing a book, and for this one I wrote, "Not me sobbing at 1am again." Honestly, intergenerational family drama is always going to pique my interest, but the structure, pacing, and craft of this story especially worked for me. The emotional beats, of when to bounce from timeline to timeline, when to reveal certain aspects or histories of a particular character, were spot on. Most importantly for me, though, is that I didn't feel intentionally or needlessly emotionally manipulated, which is a challenging balance to strike. (And why I will likely never read things like A Little Life.) It made me think about family and memory and sacrifice and regret and reconciliation and hope. And those last few hit me right when I needed it.

I've seen a couple of reviews calling this an "issues" book or that the approach was "kitchen sink." I have to say I completely disagree. Just because there are plot points that deal with sticky, challenging subjects, that doesn't make it unbelievable or unrealistic or less impactful as a book. There are people who DO deal with sexual assault and with racism and with family neglect and with being coerced into decisions they regret, who have friends who were persecute for being queer, who have parents who were derided for marrying interracially. Just because those concepts happening all to one person feels unlikely TO YOU doesn't mean the book is at fault. The thing that's most unrealistic to me is the murder charge, and that doesn't seem to be what anyone takes issue with.

My one critique would be that I found it a little bit confusing tracking what of the "then" information was included in the recording from Eleanor to Benny and Byron, and what was included for the reader. But that didn't bother me enough to rate it less than five stars, because it is just that impactful.

I can't wait to see what more we get from Charmaine Wilkerson.

CW: parent death, chronic illness, murder, family separation, queerphobia/biphobia, domestic violence, rape, racism

Black Cake was a unique and beautiful account of a woman's life in all its painful and brutal honesty. When Eleanor Bennett dies she leaves behind two children, Byron and Benny and their broken relationship. She also leaves them all her secrets and they are plentiful. Their mother wasn't exactly who they thought she was. There was a great deal more to her story than they ever knew.

Eleanor Bennett's story is told in flashbacks from varying points in time. In addition, we get different perspectives on the story by being given different viewpoints from several characters throughout the book. This lends to a rich and thorough flow of information. Even though I liked and enjoyed this about the book, many people may not. It is a lot to keep up with and can frustrate some readers. It's all about preferences. I did find that due to the number of characters involved, it was difficult to truly feel invested.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Family secrets, mystery, tragedy, betrayals, and traditional blake cake.

This is a multi-generational story told in different timelines that mainly focuses on the life of Eleanor Bennett. The chapters are short and even though different characters get introduced a lot, the author is good at weaving together everyone in the story.

The only reason why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because it dragged a little bit for me. It was still a highly enjoyable read and I loved it, I just felt that it could have been a smidge shorter.

Thank you Ballantine and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can see why this was not only one of this month's Book of the Month choices but also Reese Witherspoon's Book Club as well! I really enjoyed this family saga - and I am really grateful that the publisher directly invited me to read the one! The book opens with the death of Byron and Benny's mother. Her lawyer reveals that he has an audio recording from her- all of the secrets that she could't bring herself to share while she was alive - including the existence of an older sister that neither of them ever suspected anything at all about. Spanning decades, the story unfolds in a way that makes it impossible to put down! The short chapters make it easy to justify just one more. And though I didn't listen to this one on audio, I imagine that the audio version would be just as great.

Having spent the last forty years in Southern California, Byron and Benny's parents are from the Caribbean - but they have never returned. The recording reveals the reasons why. Going back to the 1960s, all the way to 2018 (a year that I think a lot of recent fiction is stuck in as "the present"), the story takes the reader to multiple continents and explores relationships, the legacy of home and family. The characters all fully come to life here and while readers may correctly guess some aspects of the plot, there are still surprises, here. It's a satisfying story that rather neatly comes together. And it's certainly an impressive debut novel - though I must admit, I wish that the recipe for the famous titular cake was included here! I am curious to see what Wilkerson will write next!

Thanks to Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion, Black Cake had me hooked from beginning to end. The way the author wrote the siblings made me really connect to each of them. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who loves to read!!

I’ve seen Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel Black Cake on several lists of the most-anticipated releases of 2022 and, after reading the description, I jumped to add it to my own TBR pile. Delving into the repercussions of family secrets on family relationships and personal identity, Black Cake also looks at the societal influences that create the conditions that start and perpetuate such impactful secrets. Having spent so much time in 2021 catching up on listening to the Family Secrets podcast, I was primed to appreciate this novel (and for the most part, I thoroughly did).

It’s been eight years since Benedetta “Benny” Bennet has been home to see her family and now it looks like it’s too late. Her father died a few years earlier, now her mother is gone too and Byron clearly wants nothing to do with her. But their mother’s lawyer explains that she had some final wishes for the two of them to carry out together. First, listen to a recording she made before her death that will reveal the completely unexpected truth about who she was (and who they are) and second, to share the final, traditional black cake she baked them ‘when the time is right.’ Their mother’s revelations about how she came to be Eleanor Bennet send both Benny and Byron spinning, questioning their interactions with their parents, with each other, and how they’ve come to see themselves and their place in the world.

The ocean holds a significant symbolic role in the novel and the way Wilkerson sets up the narrative structure plays into that symbolism well too. Time and perspective ebb and flow, shifting, rising and falling as they carry the reader along. It keeps the story moving at a steady clip but also forces the reader to actively engage with the action, especially early in the novel, as it takes a little while for the pieces to start falling into place. And while there are a lot of horrifying and tragic events in the lives of the characters, the narrative doesn’t tend to dwell on the details of the events as much as their repercussions and the joy that the characters managed to find even in the midst of what happened. Wilkerson’s approach makes the story about survival, about growing and evolving, rather than getting caught up too much in the negative without glossing over, ignoring or erasing the negative.

Because there are so many characters and so many perspectives, Wilkerson is able to touch upon a wide range of social and political topics – colonialism and slavery, structural racism, sexual identity, even environmental issues – in a way that shows how much they’re woven into everyday life. For some, they’re a main focus – part of their life’s work. For others with different backgrounds and experiences, certain things go completely unnoticed – and situations that scream out to those more aware may not just be missed by those who are more unaware, but misinterpreted contributing to rifts in personal relationships.

If I have one criticism, it’s that I think the novel went a little too long and wrapped things up a little too neatly. Everything in that extended ending was clearly set up along the way – certain threads of the story were clearly going to come up again later. At the same time though, there was a place where, to me at least, things felt like they came to a very natural and comfortable conclusion… but then there was another fifty pages. It was like watching The Return of the King the first time with all those fades to black that you thought were the end but then there was a little more and then a little more. It made the final, true ending a little underwhelming (and some of the threads that were brought back to get fully wrapped up just didn’t feel important enough by that point and it started to get too conveniently neat given just how realistically messy everything else had been along the way).

I wanted to like this more than I did and I’m glad I waited for the audiobook version or I would not have finished it. Lord knows I love a mystery and a dual time period novel. Had a hard time getting my footing in the story with all of the back and forth. I skipped around from 50% to the end to find out what happened. Black Cake is well-written but long and rambling for my taste.

I included this title in Apartment Therapy's monthly new book listicle! You can find it here: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/best-book-february-2022-37031440

Estranged siblings receive a powerful message after their mother’s death revealing a secret. As they try to decide what to do with the information, they must also try to find a way back to one another. Debut author Charmaine Wilkerson uses lush descriptions in a book with a slightly wobbly plot in her first novel Black Cake.

Byron Bennett is devastated by the death of his mother, Eleanor. She was everything to him, including the embodiment of the American dream. Byron grew up hearing stories of how his mother and father started life in the West Indies, and even though being a Black man in America has its challenges he’s still grateful for the life his parents built.

As an ocean scientist and a social media star, Byron spends his days doing research and teaching various communities about the impact of climate change. His love life may not be smooth sailing right now, but professionally Byron knows he’s just starting to ride bigger waves. Like his mom who taught him how to surf and submit to the ocean’s will.

It was hard enough when his dad died. Now his mom is gone too, and Byron feels all alone. He’s really not, he knows; he has his sister, Benny. But Benny left the family after a major disagreement. She didn’t even attend their father’s funeral, never mind that when they were kids she and Byron were as inseparable as twins. If he’s going to survive losing his mother, Byron can’t count on anyone else.

Except his mother won’t let him grieve by himself. Eleanor’s lawyer tells Byron that Eleanor left explicit instructions for her children to listen to a series of recordings of Eleanor sharing those parts of her life that she’s never discussed. Per her last will and testament Byron and Benny have to listen to the recordings and make some decisions, including when to share the last black cake she made for them.

Benny comes home for the reading of her mother’s will in the midst of grief. She’s missed her family since the first hour after she left home, and for eight years she’s wanted to come back. But she couldn’t; not after what was said on that day. She’s always looked up to her big brother and assumed he would come after her and appease her like when they were kids, but Byron has let all this time go by without saying a word.

Forced together by their mother’s literal and figurative will, the siblings receive the biggest shock of their lives: they have another sister somewhere out in the world. More than that, their mother is not who she said she was. Even though she left the West Indies behind decades earlier, it’s still haunted her every day.

As Byron and Benny listen to the recordings and learn the truth about their mother’s past, they have to decide what to do about their own mistakes. They’ll also have to decide whether they forgive each other and themselves for the mistakes and misunderstandings they’ve let fester.

Author Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut shines in its descriptions. As the story moves back in time to Eleanor’s childhood on a Caribbean island, Wilkerson provides details that will take readers there. Her experiences living in Jamaica herself do a great service to the setting, making the island sections some of the best portions of the novel.

By contrast, other parts of the book aren’t as solid. Eleanor moves from the Caribbean to England and then to the U.S. The amount of time spent in England on the page doesn’t feel long, although it’s one of the most crucial periods in Eleanor’s life. Yet the uneven plotting of the story will leave readers not feeling the impact as much as Eleanor does.

Also, while black cake does make several appearances in the novel, it’s not important enough to warrant naming the book after it. The story jumps from one time frame to another, one character to another, which might leave readers wondering where they should spend their emotional currency. In giving so many different aspects of Eleanor and Benny and Byron’s lives so much importance, all of the events lose a little of it.

The book does offer a unique perspective on Caribbean immigrants and their experiences in moving from one place to another for a better life. Readers especially interested in books with these themes will want to check this out.

Hmmm. I think I liked this book. But, I also didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have wanted to. I enjoyed learning about the culture, the food and the environment of their island life. I was interested in the storyline and curious to know what was going to happen next in the book, however this is a book that would have probably worked better for me if I had taken notes while reading. There is a lot covered in Black Cake. There were a lot of characters, a lot of back and forth and a lot of topics covered. Unfortunately, it was almost too much for me. I do believe this would make a great book club pick… there is quite a bit to discuss!

As rich as a black cake, the characters is what stands out to me in this beautiful debut novel. I loved the Caribbean culture and flavor and the pace of the book as it traversed characters and settings and years. Lovely and relatable and full of emotion where I thought about hard decisions and choices I’ve made and how they have and will affect my children when they’re old enough to understand. A great book club pick. So grateful to Ballantine for the advanced copy. This author is one I’ll watch - whatever she writes next - I’m first in line.