Black Cake is the debut novel from Charmaine Wilkerson and it was one I found myself drawn to given the different way in which it was written and it's very different from what I typically read.

Siblings Benny and Byron are brought together by the passing of their mother and her one last wish is for them to listen to a recording and to eat the Black Cake she has left for them at the right time. Benny and Byron were close as children, but a rift has left them separated by both miles and emotions for years.

Throughout the book, we're taken on a journey of how the siblings mother, Eleanor, made her way from the Caribbean to the United States and how her life unfolded throughout. There are secrets the siblings never knew and there are lessons to be learned as they take this final journey set out by their mother.

While there was a lot going on in this book, I found the way the story was told to be very interesting and different from the books I normally find myself reading. For me, I liked that departure and I think it added to the richness (no pun intended!) of the story. Well done by Ms. Wilkerson.

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

This book was deeply moving. At first, I wasn't sure the direction it would go in; the writing was initially awkward and I fumbled through the first few chapters. But as it started to pick up steam, I couldn't put it down. My fingers were itching to continue reading- I HAD to know how the story ended.

Black Cake was a heavy read- if you're looking for something light-hearted and fun, this is NOT it. But it's a book that stays with you. Every emotion- fear, love, hate, anger, respect- jumped off the page and was woven intricately with the words that you could physically feel it. The love of Ellie Bennett for her kids, her husband Bert, her past- it was all encompassing.

This was a great first outing for Charmaine Wilkerson- I would have never guessed she was a debut author. But the way she addressed current events from both a historical perspective as well as a modern one is something many authors cannot do. The two themes, survival and endurance, were weaved into every chapter; it looked at what one is willing to do to survive while also showing through food (i.e. Black Cake) how not just cultures, but PEOPLE can continue to endure throughout time.

Beautifully written, I recommend this book to everyone to read.

This debut novel was intriguing and well written. The author is quite the storyteller and this family drama and its characters will remain with me for some time.
I look forward to Ms. Wilkerson's next book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC ebook.

This book is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

It contains a lot of issues - family problems, cultural issues, lies, sexual issues, child abandonment, racism, environmental issues, the list goes on. But they are all addressed so well that you don't feel at all overwhelmed by them.

And then the black cake! By the end I was wanting to try it for certain and all it symbolizes is not lost on the reader.

There were so many struggles among the characters. And while they weren't always likeable, you feel your heart tug for each of them. They are all strong and resilient and you find yourself in their corner!

This quote will stick with me for sure: "This is what I would like to be able to say to you folks, that in life, you should just catch the wave and ride it. But what if you don't see any good waves coming your way? You need to go looking. Don't stop looking, all right?” Ride that wave people!

This is a complex story, yet an easy read if that makes sense. And I won't go into detail because just like a cake, there are layers to this story and you need to experience each of them yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books for an advance review copy with me in exchange for my honest review. This book will likely be one of my favorites for 2022!

A terrific read about family secrets that are only revealed to siblings Byron and Benny after the death of their mother Eleanor. Know in advance that this moves back and forth in time and place and that you might be a bit confused at times. But also know that all will be clear and that small things are important. Eleanor left a tape for her children - a tape for things she had never been able to tell them- as well as a black cake in the freezer. Born in Jamaica, she lives a difficult but fascinating life and the one thing that she has shared fully with Benny in particular is that cake. Benny has been estranged from the family while Byron has been career driven. They are, admittedly, much less interesting than their mother and others. No spoilers from me. This is one that everyone should read the way I did- fresh and with almost no information about the characters and plot because it unfolds beautifully. There are no recipes but don't miss the afterword. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Highly recommend.

Black Cake is a beautiful tale of one family’s story, as revealed through a recording left by the matriarch after she dies. Full of heartache and hope, the stories of identity, culture, and connection are beautifully written.
The experiences were intense and often sad, but the short chapters and alternating timelines made them easier to digest. And the book itself didn’t leave me melancholy, just captivated by the rich and complex lives of the characters.
Would be great book club discussion material.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

I count generational family stories among my favorite niche of historical fiction; getting to see how a family grows and changes through time is such an interesting perspective to take when writing someone’s story. It’s why Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is one of my favorite books of all time.

Black Cake just may be gunning for Homegoing’s spot, however. It tells the tale of the siblings Benny and Byron as they listen to an eight hour long message recorded by their mother, to them, before her death. Family secrets abound and tales of betrayal, hardship, and ultimately love tie this incredible story together.

This was one of those books where I know the characters will stay with me for a long time, and I will be shoving it into the hands of friends, family, and strangers until they leave me.

I would classify this as family dramas given the interwoven difficult relationships. We meet siblings whose mother has just died and has left them an audio describing her childhood as well
as the fact that she has a long lost daughter. We learn about the families secrets, the ways they’ve frayed and how they come back together. I enjoyed the various timelines, past abs present and the various characters. The cake turns interwoven or baked in was a beautiful touch,

I was provided a free copy of this from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Family traditions are an important part of someone's identity. For brother/sister duo Byron and Benny a huge part of their family history was the black cake their mother would make. When she passes away they are unsurprised that she baked one more cake for them to share "when the time is right". However, they are completely unprepared for all they will go through to get to that right time! Unbeknownst to them, their mother has left behind an audio recording finally sharing her story. A story about struggle, escape, strength, discovery, and many many secrets!
This was a really interesting story, with lots of twists and secrets! However, it was a bit of a disjointed read. The story switches between the two siblings, the mother's recording, and a few other small side stories. Until some of the secrets are revealed some of those storylines seem random. Also, some were more interesting, so I wanted to hurry up and get back to the more interesting ones.
Overall though it was an enjoyable read. It was a story proving you don't always know who someone truly is, even when you've known them all your life!
#BlackCake #NetGalley

This novel is about two siblings, Bryon and Benny who are no longer speaking with one another. Their mother, Eleanor, has passed away and left behind a Black Cake, a traditional Caribbean Black Cake. She also leaves behind a voice recording and they get to know their mother and their heritage through her oral history, like how she fled the island in order to escaped accusations of murder. This is a novel about secrets, memories and family bonds. This novel is beautifully rendered The chapters are written in shorter clips involving many characters, which sometimes took me out of the rhythm of the novel, but overall, this was a wonderful and engaging read.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

In Black Cake, Eleanor Bennett dies and leaves her two children, Byron and Benny, some traditional Caribbean black cake and a recording of the truth of her life that she wants to tell. What follows is a heartbreaking story of immigration, loss, family drama, and culture that shows us all that we never know someone's full story, no matter how close we are to them.

I really enjoyed this book! It was different from a lot of other books I've read recently - it is very much based in character development as opposed to plot development, in my opinion. It took me a while to get into but once I did, I couldn't put it down. The characters are imperfect and nuanced, which I really enjoyed. Eleanor's story is clearly the heart of this book and my heart broke for her at every story turn.

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Note: Thank you to Netgalley & publishers for allowing me access to this arc in exchange for an honest review! Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As someone who doesn't enjoy black cake -a Caribbean rum cake made with dried, soaked fruit and blackened sugar-, I hoped that a book named after the dessert would be much better. In some ways, my hopes were fulfilled, but for the most part, they were not.

The Good Things
1. The story is solid and involves the re-connecting of two estranged siblings -Benny and Byron- when they are introduced with an intriguing six-hour-long voice recording from their mother after her death. This recording is a multi-generational family story that coincides with the gift that she left them: a black cake. 

2. Most of the characters throughout the book and interesting and well-thought-out. 

3. The writing style is unique and much different than any books I've read recently, especially considering Wilkerson's use of English dabbled with patois (a form of Jamaican creole).


Black Cake has a seemingly solid storyline, interesting characters, and the author, Charmain Wilkerson, has a unique writing style. However, despite consisting of a recipe for a perfect book, I felt like this one missed the mark a little bit, and here's why.

The Bad Things
1. The points of view were a bit jumpy and often confusing. I understand this was done intentionally, but some of the transitioning could have been smoother. 

2. There was just TOO much going on throughout the stories that Eleanor tells. There is just too much to dig through to make the overall read worthwhile. 

3. Parts of the story dragged, and I found myself forcing my way through it.

Black Cake is the debut novel from Charmaine Wilkerson

"Benny has been estranged from her family for eight years. Her brother Byron is still angry that she walked away from the family. Now their mother has died and they must put aside their differences. Their mother has left a long recording for them. And one last Black Cake. And many surprising secrets..."

This is a wonderful story from Wilkerson. We get Eleanor's story from the recording. And we get Benny's perceptions - and Byron's perceptions - and we see just how far apart they are.
There are secrets - they all have secrets. Some more shocking than others. Sometimes it's easy to forget that your parents had a life before you - and that there are many things you don't know.
Wilkerson touches on a lot of issues especially just how messy family relationships can be and the difficulty in communicating hurt. If you are struggling with sibling and/or family relationships you will really relate to this book.
I loved the ending. It's not a happily ever after but Wilkerson gives us some resolution. And she shows us just how beautiful and mixed up a family can be.
Fans of a good family epic will love this one. Great debut from Wilkerson.

This was a very good read, I spend the majority of the time bitting my nails, not knowing what was going to happen so many emotions and things happening all at once, I couldn’t tell many of the things that were happening because I was only getting to know the characters but even that made this book wonderful so many different situations and characters that where involve with Bunny and Byron’s life to get to know what happened why their mom had many secrets, what happens to her when she was just a young lady trying to grow and be happy.

But life has a funny way to destroy the beauty and bring burdens and problems that’s exactly what Mr. Lin did to his daughter Eleanor Aka Covey he made so many mistakes that he end up dragging his own daughter to exhaled, she had to leave, disappear far away from the island before her father continue destroying her with his mistakes.

Eleanor didn’t have an easy life, everything around her was trying to sabotage her happiness and growth no matter where she was it seems like a shadow kept following her all around.

In the present moment, Bunny and Byron are trying to understand all these secrets and lies not knowing what was true, finding a secret that will change everything for them but not in the bad way they thought this will feel.

What I love about Black Cake is this constant feeling that another shoe was about to drop, the constant ahhh 😱 that I felt while reading all the situations happening at once.

What I had a hard time figuring out was why to leave that many months or years without trying to solve the problems between you and your kids. I couldn’t understand the silence. Especially if you know your days are limited and it is your only chance to say goodbye.

Other than that many things that make this book so amazing, the background, the stories, the characters, the situations that we see every day, the real sadness of what we see on the news, racism, and criticism, the constant harassment of Black, Latinos, and Asian men suffering in the hands of many ignorant people, hard to read but necessary.

Another thing that I love about this story is all the History behind and the black cake story was amazing what a beautiful tradition so happy to hear more about the ingredients and the way these recipes change from culture to culture, in many ways.

This is a book that will keep your heart vibrating and shaking all the time. The beautiful union and traditions, the love between sisters and brothers, and the constant feeling of love. a family that was separated many times but at the end reunited by the love of Covey a mother who never gave up and fought hard for her children.

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and Charmaine Wilkerson for this amazing book

This is one of the best stories that I have read in a long time. I was engaged and intrigued throughout the book. While some of the story line may have been difficult to believe, I fell for it hook, line and sinker! While I am a white, older female, there were so many elements of the story to which I could relate.

Please rad this book!!!

4.5 stars

Black Cake follows Bryon and Benny, two estranged siblings who just lost their mother. They are brought back together by their mother who, as her last wish, has them listen to an audio recording together. In this audio recording, their mother goes into her life story, including secrets she has held onto for their whole lives.

Black Cake is a slow burn with strong character development. As the pieces start to come together, the characters start to learn more, not only about their mother but also about themselves. I loved the multiple POVs in this book and understanding different decisions made by each character and the impact that had on others.

Thanks, @netgalley for an ARC of this book!

A really enjoyable story about family secrets and how no matter how well we think we know those we love, there is always more to discover.

This is a gorgeous novel about family secrets and what some people must do to survive.

When Benny and Byron's mother dies, she leaves them with black cake in the freezer and an 8 hour long recording explaining that she's not who they think she is. Their story in current day alternates with tales from the past that eventually being to weave together.

The writing is strong, beautiful, and atmospheric. I got a genuine sense for what life was like in this unnamed small Caribbean island town in the 1950's and '60s. The characters are all well developed and relatable, even the side characters.

The individual stories that unravel and the mother reveals her secrets are compelling and I couldn't put the book down. I was desperate for resolution for these characters.

I highly recommend this one for readers of literary and historical fiction as well as family dramas. If you read it, be prepared to be craving cake the entire time!

Estranged siblings Byron and Benny put aside their differences to come together in the wake of their mothers death. They soon realize they had no idea who their mother was, as she leaves her long held secrets in the hands of her children.

This is usually the kind of book I live for. Multi generational family saga with different POVs, memories and secrets, and cultural elements.

The story took place in the Caribbean, London, and California, and was written in several POVs and timelines. There was so much happening, I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions that the story felt a bit muddled; there wasn't time to fully develop or connect with the characters or their timelines.

Overall, it was still a great debut. I will look forward to reading more by Wilkerson.


TW: rape, addiction, racism, abandonment, police brutality, violence

A poignant tale of family and the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love.

This book is well written and engrossing. Would definitely recommend this book.