Byron and Benny need to hug it out.

The intricate plot line in this book takes you from one country to the next, in a weaving story of love, loss and secrets. The author throws us readers straight into the drama of Byron and Benny as they struggle to come to terms with their mothers death all while reeling with their own relationship with each other that went bad many years before. Just that kind of family pain gives the characters depth right off the bat.

Eleanor, their mother, left voice recordings behind telling the tale of her life and the secret she has been carrying around her entire adult life of a long lost child she was tricked into giving up and her run from the law, when she was suspected of murdering her first husband. I do think he had it coming, but the way it went down... Damn...

I really enjoyed reading through Eleanor's life and the reactions of her children to her secrets. Wilkerson has an incredible writers voice and a wonderful way of weaving a tale that is worthy of the readers time.

My review will be live on my blog Book Confessions on 1-26-22.

Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this eARC. Also, Charmaine Wilkerson thank you for allowing me the privilege of reading your very first novel and it goes without saying the first of many because you are a gifted and amazing story teller.

I could not put this book down! No spoilers but know that you are stepping into a world that is not as it seems. I saw so much selflessness and bravery from beginning to end. This is one of those stories that will stick with me and I feel like I know the main character personally. I loved the way the author weaved the story and brought it full circle. This book has all the emotions. One second you are smiling, then so mad you can't see then sobbing. So, so good and one I will suggest anyone add to their TBR for 2022.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy. This is a stunning debut from Ms. Wilkerson. The writing is gorgeous and I love how the POV moved around so much within each part of the novel. Normally, I would find this distracting or confusing, but the way the author did it was masterful. I have read many of these type of sweeping family dramas, but this one felt fresh. I know I will be recommending this one all year.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson was one of my favorite reads from 2021 (yep, I am very late in posting about this one 😊). The book is centered around two estranged siblings discovering the truth about their mother, Covey, who recently passed away. Through an audio tape that she left behind, the siblings come to learn about the secrets she kept from them during her Caribbean and London years. Some secrets revealed Covey’s strength and resilience and others were slightly harder to digest. Wilkerson was able to pack a lot in this debut book in a somewhat seamless manner. Grief, identity, Caribbean history and culture, immigrant experiences, and abuse are just some of the themes. And then there’s the story behind the Black Cake and its importance within the Caribbean culture which made me fall in love with this book even more. It made me think about some of my own food related traditions.

My only critique would be that at times there were A LOT of characters to keep up with but overall this was a beautiful and moving read. In some ways it gave me The Vanishing Half vibes but I found Black Cake easier to read. Thank you to @netgalley for a gifted copy.

This was one of the debut novels for 2022 I was most excited about after hearing so much advance praise. The story itself itself ended up being very unexpected for me with many twists and developments, but it definitely didn't disappoint. Eleanor Bennett certainly had an interesting and eventful life and it is enjoyable hearing about the many turns and secrets as it is all finally told to her two children. How the telling of this story also brings siblings together is an additional storyline that plays out as we learn about Eleanor's life. Both of these timelines, along with the many years the past timeline covers, transports the reader to many different settings, but above all else you really feel and experience the island where the titular black cake may (or may not have) originated. I think this debut will rightfully live up to the early buzz.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

9780593358337

400 Pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group p Ballantine Books
Release Date: February 1, 2022

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, West Indies, Adoption, Rape


The book contains several stories that all intertwine. The stories begin with Eleanor’s death and her two children, Byron and Benny, coming together to learn their mother’s secrets. We learn about Covey, Gibbs, Bunny, and Pearl. The main theme throughout the book is family and tradition. For these families, the black cake is an important part of the West Indies islands tradition.

The book is fast paced with flashbacks from the past to the present. The characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. I enjoyed reading about the different time periods as the characters grow and see the people they turn into. The author writes with emotion, and it is obvious she has a connection to these characters and/or the locations. I only wish there was a recipe for the black cake. This is an excellent book filled with family secrets that anyone will enjoy reading.

The Black Cake had a great story line, wonderful characters and very satisfying ending. I truly need to have a piece of black cake now and will be looking for it. My small complaint was about all the social issues that had minimal impact on the story. I just didn’t want to read paragraphs about ocean pollution or the injustices against blacks. Covey and Bunny were tough cookies. Byron and Benny were lucky to know even a small part of their lives.

This begins on an unnamed Caribbean island (the author mentions that it may be Jamiaca) where a daughters mother has run away from her husband, leaving her alone with a dad who…well, this is the beginning of a beautiful story.

Two estranged siblings are brought in to talk to their deceased mothers attorney, to listen to their mothers recording she made prior to her death. In this recording secrets are slowly revealed to about their mothers past that they never knew.

In this book you will find culture, love, loss, hate, freedom, kindness, grace, tragedy, and triumph. I cried and loved the cadence of this book. I never felt annoyed with the timeline changing between characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advance e-copy of this book!

It's just not for me, sorry. I feel like this story is going all over the place for no particular reason. I don't feel engaged in the plot or invested in any of the characters. I gave up at 20% and won't be reviewing it on my blog.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I liked that it had short chapters. I didn't mind the switching back and forth between timelines and characters.

This book had a lot of family drama in it. It was a story that felt fresh. I do enjoy historical fiction even though it's usually referencing the darker moments of history.

I would recommend this book to others.

Effortless to read, interesting and unique story, great representation, tugs at your heartstrings in all of the right ways – this checks all of the boxes. I loved it!

My sincere thanks to @netgalley, @penguinrandomhouse, and Ballantine Books for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Estranged brother and sister duo Byron and Benny are devastated when their mom dies, and shocked when her attorney presents them with an eight-hour-long voice recording with instructions that they must watch it together and share the slice of traditional black cake their mother has left for them “when the time is right.” Can “B&B” heal their relationship with each other amid so many family secrets finally being revealed?

This is such a solid debut. It is a multi-generational, dual timeline story, but at the heart of everything is the story of a determined young woman named Covey. Wilkerson is a great new voice in literature – there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to her prose, but she knows how to break the reader’s heart and then slowly help them put the pieces back together. The chapters are really short and maybe a little too choppy as the reader jumps to different POVs, and Benny, in particular, could have been more developed, but I didn’t want to put it down (and stayed up way too late reading it). Rich and layered, Black Cake provides much food for thought. It would be a fantastic book club pick. If you liked The Vanishing Half, you will love this one!

This review will be published on Instagram (@sanfranliterarygal) and Goodreads (San Fran Literary Gal) within one week publication (link forthcoming).

Unfortunately, this one didn't work for me. It started strongly and engaging, with a very appealing storyline and different timelines and points of view, which is the kind of reading I like. I love to read multidimensional aspects of a story. But the problem in this book is that it lacks the depth that you would expect of a well rounded storyline. Why? Because it seems that, at one point, the writer felt compelled to include every current social and political controversy that every other book that wants to become a success is forced to address. That makes it very politically correct but extremely tedious and unoriginal. The writing is good, but it needs some editing. I stopped caring about the characters half way through. I do want to try the Jamaican black cake though.

This multi-generational story, told from multiple point of views and dual timelines blew me away. It is clear from the beginning that Benny and Byron have a strained relationship, but the reader does not know why until the story progresses. They come together to listen to a recording their mother left them before she passed away. The recording contains their mother's life story, which is much different than what they grew up knowing. They learn that what their thought their life was based on, really isn't reality, but they uncover so much more about their mother and her culture.

Black Cake centers around, just that, black cake. It is a traditional Caribbean dessert with a recipe that was passed down generations. It plays a pivotal role in the story and Byron and Benny's legacy centers around it. I absolutely loved this element of the story. Personally, I am a huge foodie, so when a plotline centers around food, I am all for it.

This story is beautiful and heartbreaking. It will tug at your heartstrings and make you feel all the emotions. I am a huge fan of family stories that delve into who parents were before they were parents to their children. It is a theme I have come to love in a novel and seek out when I am perusing what to read next. Black Cake brings this element to life, as well as transports the reader from an unnamed island in the Caribbean, to England, to New York, to California.

A captivating family saga, two estranged sisters must come together after the death of their mother- and find themselves uncovering secrets from her past. Told in dual timelines and from multiple POV, this novel is rich, complex, and well written. An immersive read that would make for great book club conversation

When I first read the description for this book, I knew it was something that I would like to read.

Overall, it was a beautifully written story. The multiple point of views were a good way to get the reader to keep going but sometimes I felt like it was a teeny bit much. I did enjoy the plot of the story and it definitely kept me guessing where it was all leading to.

I did find myself skipping sentences or speed reading through some sections bc it would lose my interest a little.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I think it would be a lovely pick for a book club!

I don’t think I’ll read a book quite like this ever again. In fact, I know I won’t. The writing pulled me in from the very first page and never let go. What an absolutely incredible page turner and stunner of a debut!!

Also, you know those books that have a dual timeline where you just enjoy one more than the other? (For me, 9 times out of 10, the past is always way more compelling than the present.) Well, in this book, I was so invested in both the present and the past. Finding out Eleanor’s story through the recording she left for her children was such a brilliant narrative technique. I was completely hooked and immersed in the storytelling no matter what time period we were in.

If you’re craving an intriguing family mystery and characters you care about and root for, this is the one for you.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy 🖤

This is a wonderful family story spanning generations and continents. Each character is a wonderfully complex person who does not let others define them. As the layers are unraveled I only became more and more invested in the story and I loved the writing style. This is a book I will think about for a long time! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy.

An excellent family saga exploring the Caribbean diaspora. Deeply propulsive and feels like a complex puzzle. A great launchpad for discussion.

A story of family drama and overcoming differences. This family is filled with harmful feels towards each other and they continue to grow with a lack of communication. The family dynamics are strained and harmful to all involved.

This book will stick with me. The depth of it. The stories told within it. The characters - oh the characters. I fell in love with them all. Just when you thought you might have things connected, the connection was wrong. Just when you thought you might have the story put together, wrong again. Wow! Just wow!

Time and time again, you are brought into the lives of Covey and Benny, best friends, and swimming extraordinaries. However, the path and journey each life contains is so different.

Their story is told to Byron and Benny, estranged siblings, brought together because of their mother’s passing. Their mother has left them recordings of her life, the life that these two don’t know, the story of the mother they thought they knew.