Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is a huge, gut-wrenching, uplifting tidal wave of a novel. The author takes you far and deep, excavating the souls of her characters with a skillful hand. Sometimes I had to pause just to take a breath and let both her beautiful words and powerful prose sink in. But just for a moment, because I had to keep reading! Highly recommend!!

I adored this book. Lots of plot lines that tie together, and such rich characters... loved getting to know them all. Going to be a big hit!

Benny has been estranged from her family, but returns home upon the death of her mother, Eleanor. Eleanor has left her children a Caribbean black cake and a video that explains her past and reveals secrets that Benny and her brother Byron could never have imagined.

An intricate, intense debut novel of a family journey told in dual timelines.
The now adult children, Benny and Byron, who are estranged, must return to the family home after the death of their mom.
She leaves an explicit video taped message of long ago secrets and requests that she needs to reveal with her children.
She also leaves a Black Cake in the refrigerator for all of her children to one day share together!
This family has no idea who their mother really was and all she lived through!
So many challenges, turmoil, hardships, love and fear!

This story is so well woven and flows easily from the past and back to the present as told by the videotape.
Well done!

I am looking forward to the next book by Charmaine Wilkerson!

Thank you to #Random house (Ballentine Books) for the chance to read this and provide an honest review.

I didn't know exactly what to expect going into Black Cake, but I was immediately drawn into the novel; I couldn't put it down. The story itself has an almost fever-dream, folklore like quality to it - the type of tale that is almost unbelievable, but that you are willing to suspend disbelief for because it is so captivating. Charmaine Wilkerson is a master of characters, and I felt invested in everyone from main characters Benny and Byron to the supporting cast of Pearl and Bunny. Black Cake is an impressive and beautifully written debut, and I am excited to see what Wilkerson does next.

Ultimately an intense book full of emotion and history and the pull/influence of family; very relevant today's cultural struggles. Very well written - I pretty much couldn't put it down!

There was so much packed into this book. I don't feel that it was too much, I was just amazed at how much was there. This book dealt with so much. It was beautifully done. I can't wait to read more by this author.

I loved the way the story was told. I loved the way the story was unfolded. You really got to know the characters as the story went on. Also, it showed that as much as things change, so much stays the same. In some ways it is good and in others it is still awful.

The characters had depth. I really felt like you got to know each character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a good story about family and loyalty. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and some interesting twists.

Thank you for the opportunity to read a Black Cake. Multiple stories, different timelines, all wrapped into one powerful, moving, beautifully written book.

There wasn’t a single character I didn’t like or relate to, which I find rare but very much enjoyed. While I would love to say I’m a Benny—a glimmering, loving, bit of light in the world—I think I’m probably more of a Byron. Seeing their relationship through their own eyes and that of their parents and Mr. Mitch gave such incredible nuance and added wonderful complexity. I let out a big sob when Benny and Byron cried over the fish dish and I shared in their feelings over their different life experiences.

The story was just mysterious enough and with enough twists to keep me hooked and guessing at plot points, but not so much that it was frustrating or off-putting. The Mr. Mitch storyline was especially surprising, but worked really well as a tool to drive home how magnetic and special Eleanor was. I thought that was a brilliant addition.

The foundation of the story is a black cake and family recipes are something a lot of people can connect with. I know I certainly did. The black cake led into my favorite line and basically a microcosm of the entire story: “What Benny learned from her mother was to rely on her own instincts and go on from there.”

All in all, this is a 5/5 for me. It was moving and powerful. The way big topics and family relationships were handled was perfect. I think this book will resonate with a lot of people of all different backgrounds. Great for fans of Jodi Picoult and/or Where the Crawdad Sings.

I am a huge fan of family dramas and this was a great one. this was about 2 brothers and the ties that bind them. Its an emotional read and I loved every minute of it.

I"m not going to say much about the book, and least not until its published, but this is an emotional heart warming/wrenching book all at once.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

“Black Cake” is a debut novel by Charmaine Wilkerson. This book starts off announcing the death of Eleanor Bennett. Eleanor has left a recorded message she wants her adult children, Byron and Benny, to hear in her lawyer’s presence. As when any child listens to their parent tell the story of their lives, Byron and Benny learn a lot of new information - some sweet, some surprising, and some heartbreaking.

Reading this book reminded me not of a black cake, but instead of an onion - there’s a lot of layers in this book. There’s what’s on the surface - the public face, if one wishes - then there’s the deeper stories - not only private but also unshared until after Eleanor’s death. This book doesn’t have an even flow - sometimes the reader is in the past on an unnamed island, sometimes the reader is in the present in California, and sometimes again in the past in Europe or the East Coast of the US - but it works very effectively in telling the story. Luckily keeping track of what is happening when is pretty easy thanks to the chapter titles and font usage. While the author’s style of writing wasn’t always to my taste, I cannot fault the style in which she writes or how she chose to tell this complex story. I also liked the list of references the author used in the back of the book. I look forward to Ms. Wilkerson's next book as I'd read another book by her.

Wow. What a magnificent & beautiful story!

When Benny & Byron's mom, Eleanor, passes, they are forced to come together for the first time in years. Together with their mother's lawyer, they watch a video where Eleanor explains everything she never told her children.

Now Benny & Byron are left to not only grieve their mother's death, but to accept the truth of who their parents really were and the real story of their family.

I cannot believe this is Charmaine's first book. It is so beautifully written. The alternating POVs & timelines were cohesive & worked wonderfully to tie everything together at the end. I'm ready for another novel. Thank you SO MUCH to the publisher for the opportunity to read Black Cake early.

It was a wonderful family story that took you back many generations. There were a lot of twists and turns that you don’t see coming and you’re trying to figure it all out along the way.

"𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒖𝒏, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅."

When Eleanor Bennett dies her estranged children, Byron and Benny come to the funeral to find a traditional Caribbean black cake that they are supposed to share when the time is right. The cake also comes with a voice recording and a story that Eleanor wants them to hear.

Charmaine Wilkerson's storytelling in her debut novel Black Cake is extraordinary, vivid, delightful and passionate. It's a story full of family secrets, betrayal, culture, family ties, love, ambition, tradition, history and acceptance. It's faced-paced and can be devoured within days. Black Cake is a story told in dual timelines with the past showing the reader family secrets that back decades and shapes the Bennett family. As Byron and Benny learn about where their family came from they are forced to confront it head on as they begin to learn more about who they are and where they came from. The characters are bold, refreshing, determined, brave, resilient, and independent. When you finish you'll be looking up the history of Caribbean black cake, how to make it or where to get it. If you loved The Vanishing Half or Transcendent Kingdom then you will love this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books/Random House for providing me with this ARC to review!

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel does not disappoint! Black Cake is an alternating timeline story told from multiple perspectives. Two siblings, Byron and Benedetta, nicknamed “Benny”, have had a strained relationship for years. Nonetheless, they must come together to deal with the passing of their mother. As they learn of their mother’s hidden past, the siblings must also confront their own histories and decide if these revelations will bring them together or tear them further apart. Eleanor left them instructions to share one of her traditional Black Cakes together when the time was right—will the siblings honor their mother’s final wishes?

I thought this story was beautifully told. I really enjoyed the alternating timelines and multiple view points. We were able to learn Eleanor’s story from her own point of view, as well as from what she reveals to her children in the recording. We also gain insight into what has happened with Benny and Byron in the years they were estranged, and what led up to the events that caused the divide. This is a story you won’t want to miss!

Byron and Benny, brother and sister, sit with their mother’s lawyer days after her death, listening to tapes of their mother Elizabeth’s voice destroying all the facts they had been told of their parents’ lives. They learn about their mother’s abandoning a husband she did not love and fleeing her Caribbean home and their father’s being educated in England and finding the young woman he had believed dead. They learn of a sister they never knew existed. Both siblings are in shock, reluctant to believe what they hear. After the tapes are finished, they must sit together, all three children, and eat the Black Cake Elizabeth has baked. It is around this cake that Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel revolves. Steeped in Caribbean tradition and love of community, the cake hopefully will heal the rifts that have occurred among the children. I do not find Benny and Byron very likable, but Elizabeth aka Covey intrigues me. I want her requests to be fulfilled and her questions to be answered. It is her past that makes the story interesting.

An extraordinary story from a debut author. When Byron and Benny's mother dies, she leaves them a recording that tells her true story. All that she had to endure in her life and all the secrets she was forced to keep. It changes everything that Benny and Byron knew about her life and theirs. Benny, who hasn't spoken to anyone in her family in years after one Thanksgiving disagreement. Byron, who is just angry at the world for all the wrongs he feels it placed on him. Will this recording bring them together or force them further apart?
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House /Ballentine Books for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

I love discovering books that I may not have picked up on my own. Black Cake is definitely one of those books. Seeing that one of my favorite authors Taylor Jenkins Reid offered praise, and it has been compared to one of my favorite books of 2020, The Vanishing Half, I was compelled to read it.

Black Cake follows two estranged siblings who arrive at their childhood home after their mother's death, where she recorded her life story and important things for her children to know.

While the story moved a little slower than I liked, I found myself enthralled by it. It covers a lot of topics including race, sexual assault, suicide, and others. It is very much a powerful story taking you from the Caribbean, to London, and to California.

I recommend adding Black Cake to your 2022 reading list!

Thank you to Ballantine, Random House, and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

After Byron & Benny’s mom dies they are left with her black cake and recordings about her past life. This story is told in dual timelines as they listen.

I love multi generational books and this one was no different, especially with such a strong sense of place ties in with the Caribbean setting. You will be captivated by this story of family, friendship, grief, hope, culture and traditions.

3.5 stars! I was emailed an advanced copy of this book and went in completely blind. It bounced around a little too much at times but the plot kept me interested & the cover is stunning. This is the author’s first novel and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to read it!