This was a family drama that wound around several different family member and stretched across continents. Just like het first book the writing was really excellent and the story so moving. I wept several times while reading this book. There was also a lot of interesting history included and I plan to check out some of books that were included in authors note.

Wow! I didn’t want this book to end, I flew through it in 24 hrs.

This book was an easy 5 stars for me! I had read Charmaine Wilkersons first novel Black Cake & liked it, but felt like the story lagged in some places. This second novel Good Dirt is amazing!

I don’t want to give too much away, but this book has all the feels. We follow a family’s heartbreaking tragedy. Their son, Baz, was killed by a robber at 15 years old & the murder was never solved. His sister, Ebby, heard the gun shots when her brother died & carried the grief from that every day. Then when left at the altar on her wedding day a switch flipped & she needed to get away to France.

I loved the murder mystery/ historical fiction/ romance aspect to the book!

Pub Date: January 28th, 2025

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, & Charmaine Wilkerson for my #gifted eARC!

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson ties the wealthy, Black descendants of an enslaved potter with “Old Mo,” the jar he created, Ebby Freeman was ten when robbers broke into her family’s exclusive Connecticut shore home, killed her 15-year-0ld brother, and broke the jar while she was upstairs. Adult Ebby was inexplicably left at the altar by Henry, her rich white fiancé. The jar’s history is fascinating as are its ties to the family, but when the story moves to France where Henry and his new girlfriend coincidentally appear, the extraneous narrative and new characters don’t work. I loved Wilkerson’s Black Cake and wish this hadn’t veered from the intriguing story.

A compelling story that follows generations of the Freeman family through a shared jar. I enjoyed how this story took us all over the world. Yet, it felt somewhat slow paced at times and the dual timelines felt confusing.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy of GOOD DIRT to read and review!

Ebby Freeman longs to be set free from her past in connection to her brother Baz's death, and thinks her upcoming marriage will finally set her apart. However, when she is jilted at the alter, she finds more rumors begin to fly. Escaping to France, can Ebby outrun a past that seems to follow her wherever she goes?

With GOOD DIRT, Charmaine Wilkerson is solidifying her love for a multi-generational saga, and I think Ebby's character is very relatable as she strives to discover herself. Unfortunately I really struggled with the pacing of the flashbacks and multiple points of view in this story. However, Wilkerson's writing doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, and I really appreciated her approach.  

Overall I did enjoy this title, but felt like it dragged a bit in the middle. When recommending books to others, BLACK CAKE will remain my top suggestion for people who want to experience Wilkerson's writing and storytelling. I will continue to follow what Wilkerson writes next, and anticipate another well thought out narrative.

CW: enslavement, rape, death, miscarriage, gun violence

When you read the description of Good Dirt, you might think it's primarily about Ebby Freeman. Ebby is grappling with the aftermath of two major emotional events: the traumatic loss of her brother, who was shot 20 years ago, and the recent end of a relationship. Seeking solace, she escapes to France to process her grief and heartbreak.

While the book does explore Ebby's journey, it also centers on a jar, a treasured family heirloom crafted by one of her ancestors. The history of the jar and the Freeman family unfolds in fragments throughout the narrative. However, the story's structure felt disjointed, with multiple timelines that jump around, making it difficult to follow.

Because of this lack of cohesion, Good Dirt didn't resonate with me. The pacing often felt slow, and the confusing narrative made it hard to stay engaged.

I have obtained an Advanced Reader Review Copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing. All opinions are my own.

I'd like to start this review by congratulating Charmaine Wilkerson for putting a meticulously written historical fiction book together.

Ebony "Ebby" Freeman's story is intriguing and heartbreaking. She comes from an affluent, well-known black family with a very long history. Her life is marked by a horrific tragedy, when her brother, Basil "Baz" Freeman was shot after some men broke into their house. The jar, which was created by Old Mo, an enslaved ancestor of theirs, was broken. The jar carried so much history and heritage with it.

This tragic event shapes Ebby and her experiences, impacting her negatively. She is abandoned by the man she is supposed to marry on her wedding day, and later on, she happens to run into him. I won't explain that part of the story any further, but I will say it gets more interesting and compelling after this point.

Wilkerson carefully weaves stories from different time periods together. Some are from the 2000s, some are from the 1800s, and some are from the 1900s. Wilkerson's storytelling skills are exquisite. The characters are unique and multidimensional, and she lets their actions and words characterize them. Whenever I take a moment to close my eyes and visualize the story, it's almost like everything I'm reading is coming off of the pages.

This novel was rather realistic. Wilkerson would make a perfect historian. Her writing style, prose, and way of putting stories together and switching between different characters' perspectives make this seem like it could possibly be true.

Five out of five stars. This was a beautiful story and I hope I can find more books that are just as flawlessly written!

I like the bones of the story. The sacredness of the jar and its importance to the family is heartwarming. I’m not a fan of the execution. While I respect the creative choice to introduce a bunch of character’s, I personally prefer a more narrowed approach. Constantly switching between the backstories of multiple characters was just too much of a distraction. I know they were connected, but I felt like I kept getting pulled out of the main story. Plus, the story goes between past and present. Trying to keep up with whose experience I was reading, how it was relevant to the overall story, and what year they were in was just not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This book gripped me from the start! The writing is amazing, the characters are real and I can't get this story out of my mind. Highly recommend!

pretty effective and fun book with aweasome style. the idea was really interestinga nd executed well. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

This is an interesting story with so many really tragic and wonderful parts. Learning of Ebby's struggles dealing with the death of her older brother and having been placed in the spotlight because of that tragedy. Being left at the alter by her successful, high society, boyfriend and then the spotlight that placed her in. Then there is the history and story of the jar. This novel is worth reading. It truly highlights the way that African=Americans have to deal with things and how they are treated differently thank their white counterparts. I think it is so important to read stories and histories of other cultures. It put so much in perspective and helps you to understand and empathize. It is so hard to sometimes put yourself in someone else's shoes but this author and story makes you see so much more.

Ebby is a strong character that has faced more than more people face in a lifetime, Her family is affluent and yet she is still treated differently than her white finance. She witnessed her brother's death and it was more about the death of a black boy vs the true tragedy of a young boy being murdered. In learning of the historic family jar, we learn that this family came from freed slaves and that they prospered against all odds.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the arc of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

What a way to start the new year! I finished GOOD DIRT last night and immediately gave it five stars on Goodreads. It’s multi-layered and emotional - half contemporary romance and half historical fiction - and tells the multigenerational story of a family that has endured great tragedy.

Charmaine Wilkerson takes readers into the life of Ebby Freeman, who witnessed her brother’s murder when she was just 10 years old. In the robbery, a valuable centuries-old stoneware jar, crafted by one of Ebby’s enslaved ancestors, was broken. In present day, Ebby’s been left at the altar and decides to leave her New England home for France to figure out how to put her life back together.

GOOD DIRT is told from multiple perspectives - some of them surprising - and it just has that indefinable spark that makes it rich and memorable. Wilkerson touches on themes including grief, forgiveness, redemption, love, marriage and trauma.

I enjoyed Wilkerson’s Black Cake a lot, but GOOD DIRT is even better. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the early digital copy of GOOD DIRT in exchange for my honest feedback.

An engrossing read. I loved the combination of family history, mystery, honest portrayal of trauma and familial relationship struggles. The pacing and chapters being dedicated to time periods and characters within them worked well for me, and the plot felt realistic to me. The resolution and ending were appropriate and I was glad that Ebby and Henry did not get back together! I like to imagine that Ebby and Avery became friends later.

There were a few sections that I would have edited down further as they didn't add much for me, particularly when Ebby is in France, but overall solid follow up to Black Cake that I know other readers will enjoy!

I couldn’t wait to read Charmaine Wilkerson’s second novel. I loved her first, Black Cake. Good Dirt tells the story of a well-off black family living in New England who are affected by a tragic event.

The story focuses on Ebby, the daughter. When she was 10, she witnessed the shooting of her older brother and the destruction of a beloved family heirloom. The crime is never solved but becomes a fascination to the public, partially due to the novelty of a black family living in this predominantly white upper class neighborhood. When as an adult Ebby is left at the altar, the media spotlight returns and Ebby decides to flee to France.

This historical fiction novel moves between present day and the 1800s as the reader learns of the Freeman family’s history of slavery and the backstory of the heirloom, a jar the family has named Ol’ Mo. In typical Wilkerson style, the characters are fully developed and multiple perspectives about the Freeman family are told. The information about the “turners”, talented slaves making pottery for their owner, was fascinating and something I enjoyed learning about. An emotional story about love, loss, healing and family. I will definitely be recommending this novel and this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the ARC of Good Dirt!

Good Dirt is a character driven novel centered around grief and family's history all the way back to slavery. The book is mainly centered around Ebby as she navigates grief and trauma surrounding her brothers' death. The story moves between the 1800s & present day which can cause a bit of confusion, as well as the multitude of characters in the story. I did however enjoy the history of the artifact that has been with the Freeman family. The historical aspect of Old Mo and what it represented was my favorite part of the novel.

All in all I give this 3.5 stars.

Thank You to NetGalley for this ARC

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut, Black Cake, was my first ever Book of the Month pick a couple of years ago - and I LOVED IT! So, I was very excited to be approved for the NetGalley ARC of Good Dirt. Once again, her characters are so well developed. I especially loved the historical pieces of this novel. I felt like this was a story that needed to be told, so why only three stars?
🙃
Well, it’s the way Wilkerson decided to tell this story that didn’t land for me. I usually enjoy multi POV and dual timelines, but it was not done as seamlessly as I’d have liked. There were simply TOO MANY POVs and the jumps from present, to recent past, and to distant past were incredibly disjointed. At about 80%, I was so annoyed with how this book was jumping around that I started to lose a whole lot of care about nearly all the characters.
🤦🏻‍♀️
Would I recommended this book? Yes, simply for the history of enslaved workers labeled “turners” whose daily life revolved around making pottery. However, my recommendation is going to come with a “heads up, the way this story jumps around from person and timeline is going to get super annoying”.
🤷🏻‍♀️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a free copy of this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
💜

It physically pains me to say it, but I did not enjoy this. I almost can't believe that this is the same author as one of my favorite books, BLACK CAKE. There was a really beautiful underlying historical subplot that had incredible potential. Instead, it was bogged down by pointless romantic drama that felt incredible childish. Random side characters had their own POV chapters, there was no real "resolution" or answers about her brother's murder, and every character has no substance. I am beyond disappointed.

Wilkerson knows how to write stories!! I love how she creates this vibe that makes you want to sit down in a cozy spot and just enjoy the family she’s created. So well written and loved the mysterious tone within this one.

This book had all the elements that would normally please me, but I really struggled to get through it. I didn't find the characters as compelling as I wanted to, but the premise was great. I will certainly read more by Wilkerson, but this one wasn't really a hit for me.

I cannot stop gushing Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson! I adored this story and characters; I couldn’t put it down!

Good Dirt is a story woven through multiple storylines a current storyline of Ebony Freeman and her family and a jar. The second storyline is about Willis, a potter, escaping slavery.

I loved how the stories were intertwined and came together perfectly at the end. The characters immediately pulled me in and the quick chapters kept me reading. I’ve already begun recommending this book to anyone who will listen!

I loved Black Cake, but loved Good Dirt even more! This is absolutely going to be one of my favorites of the year!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy of this book!