Good Dirt
3.75 ⭐️

This story was so full of emotion!

Ebby, years after the death of her older brother, is grieving both him and her recent relationship as she travels to France. While she and her family start to put themselves back together, they bring their ancestral jar of earth with so much history to their community. The story of Willis, the artist and escaped slave, is woven in throughout Ebby’s story.

The dual timelines and many points of view took a bit to follow as the story didn’t feel linear with it. It was still a unique story, and I loved the character growth.

Thanks to @netgalley for a copy of this!

I was given an advanced reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Freeman family has everything until a tragedy turns their entire world upside down. When ten year old Ebby Freeman asks her brother to play hide and seek just one more time, their fifteen minute delay results in a lifetime of questions. This is an alternating timeline story depicting the affluent life of an African American modern family and their life in a primary white community that once was the epicenter of freed men. Simultaneously, a story is being told of their ancestors in the early 1800s and the loss and adversity that got them (and a very important heirloom) up north. A tale of tragedy, loss and overcoming that you can not put down. While the historical portions can were initially a bit confusing, the culmination of the ending put it all together perfectly.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for the ARC. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Once again, Wilkerson masterfully handles a dual storyline, weaving them together to create a story that is both heartbreaking and healing.

Much like "Black Cake", Wilkerson tells the story of a family through two timelines, yet unlike "Black Cake", "Good Dirt" covers a far vaster spread of time, and all through the story of a clay jug. This clay jug was crafted by the hands of a slave, a far distant relative of Ebby Freeman, our heroine. This clay jug is a part of childhood, given the moniker of "Old Mo", present for family portraits, almost taking on the role of a family member itself.

When tragedy strikes the family, the jug is also damaged. It is a dual grief, the loss of someone so important and an item which holds such a tender place in the family. Each member of the family processes this grief differently, their lives spiraling out in different directions. Of the three, we stick closest to Ebby, who is on the verge of thirty and freshly abandoned at the altar. As we travel to France with her, we watch her grow and heal, navigating fraught relationships and uncomfortable situations.

Meanwhile, we are told the story of the jug, watching it from it's conception through it's harrowing journey on the back of a slave who escapes to freedom, and eventually, into the hands of Ebby's parents. It is another way in which the jug feels like a person, having its own biography writ out over the pages.

It's a moving tale with wonderful characters, and I feel like it is a solid following to "Black Cake", which I loved.

(On a side note, I really appreciated that when Ebby is presented with her ex's new girlfriend, the two do not sink into the stagnant trope of rivals. Both women are complex and lovable, and they weren't at odds with each other the entirety of the book. It felt like a breath of fresh air .)

I loved Black Cake and was nervously optimistic about Good Dirt. It completely lived up to my expectations. I loved how a tragic incident involving a loved one and a beloved item propelled the story. I was confused at first about why a piece of pottery would evoke so many emotions, but the jar's backstory was genius and added another dimension to the story. So so good!

4 🌟

Thia was such a heartbreaking story about generational trauma.

After reading Black Cake, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. Wilkerson does such a great job of storytelling. While the dual time-line was needed, I found myself much more drawn to the current day part of the story. I loved to see Ebbys growth throughout this book.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

I received an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

this book should be the blueprint of how to write a multi-generational book that deals with trauma.

the characters were fleshed out well and felt real. their emotions and decisions also felt accurate for the themes in the book

I loved the flashbacks and felt they helped progress the story

Another excellent novel by Charmaine Wilkerson! Good Dirt tells the story of the Freeman family, through multiple generations, all the way back to the shores of Africa. I was invested in Ebby, Old MO, and her family's story from page one. The storytelling is excellent and enlightening. I learned. So much revolves around an old "jar" that was handed down through the generations and while this "jar" has a dark history, it carried with it hope and freedom. Objects have history and carry with it memories. When a family member dies, we often hold on to something that was theirs because of a personal connection and memories tied to that object. Nothing in my family has the significance of the "jar" but there are things that remain with stories attached that keep memories alive. Ebby's life is filled with traumatic events but the secret message of the jar, had meaning for her, as well as Old Mo, Willis, and others in her family line. History is important and we must hear it from all voices.

This book felt disjointed in some way with the different timelines and the abrupt endings within the chapters. I didn't get a real handle on the Ebby character and quite frankly didn't know why the jar was so significant to the family. Wish that we would have understood the crime a little better instead of just it's aftermath. Not a book for me but I think the writer is talented.

Good Dirt is an emotional and moving read. The story has a great mix of family drama, romance, history, mystery, and ancestry. It explores the effects that trauma and grief have on family and the individuals. This book is inspirational. I absolutely loved the ending!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you loved Black Cake, do not pass up on reading Good Dirt. Charmaine Wilkerson draws the reader in by telling the story from multiple perspectives and through different time periods. You feel for the main character as you learn about the circumstances of her brother's death and the item he lost his life over. I laughed, I cried. This book was amazing!

Told from multiple perspectives across multiple timelines, Good Dirt highlights how tragedy and grief affect people. Ebby and Baz were playing an innocent game of hide and seek only for tragedy to strike and Baz shot by home invaders. Ebby was a witness to this crime and has held on to what she saw for all these years. Fast forward to about twenty years later and we see that Ebby is still greatly affected by her brother's death to the point that her future husband calls off their wedding and disappears, which leads Ebby to isolate herself in France. We also see her parents' struggles and how they moved their family away from the home they knew because they didn't want to reenter the place their son was shot.

Intertwined with the present-day story is the past timeline of Ebby's ancestors and how they came to Massachusetts along with a stone jar that plays a prominent role in the story. Generations of family passed down this stone jar and stories were shared about how it was made and how it impacted their life and part in slavery. Throughout the book you learn more and more about the stone jar and what was written on the bottom of it, as the author teases the reader to the very end.

If you are looking for a well written story with strong character development, a family exploration of their history, and strong emotion of grief, then this book is for you. This is a solid follow up to Charmaine Wilkerson's debut of Black Cake.

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review.

Ebby Freeman's childhood was defined by witnessing someone shoot her brother in their home, killing him and destroying an important family heirloom from her enslaved ancestors. The Freemans are one of the wealthiest and well-known Black families in New England, but their reputation is marred by this tragedy. Things get worse when Ebby's fiancé doesn't show up to their wedding, further associating her with tragedy and spectacle. This book covered so many characters and time periods, but in such an elegant way that wove so many stories on a family together across generations.

Thank you to Ballatine Books, and Penguin random house for for allowing me to read this book by Charmaine Wilkerson. I was happy to request this book, her first book was great and this one as well. Good dirt is a dual timeline featuring a jug that is passed down from generations to generation starting in time of slaves and ending I current times. The characters were memorable it was a quick read that I kept on wanting to read. I am excited for others to read and hopefully enjoy this book like I did.

I was excited to have the opportunity to read Charmaine Wilkerson’s new book Good Dirt as I enjoyed her previous book Black Cake. Her characters are complex and well developed with the story being told through multiple perspectives. At times the story was somewhat disjointed with the multitude of timelines. Wilkerson’s use of a 175 year old clay jar which was brought from the Barbados in the 1600’s to a South Carolina plantation and then made its way to New England by an enslaved ancestor holds the family together and is used as a backdrop to explore the effect of multigenerational trauma and grief.

There is much in this novel to explore, I would recommend it to any book club.

I loved Black Cake, so I had to get my hands on an early copy of the author's next novel, Good Dirt. This is a story with fascinating history. It follows the Freemans, a family marked by a horrific tragedy and struggling to reckon with it. Twenty years ago, they were the only African American family living in an exclusive coastal town when armed robbers broke into their house and murdered the teenaged son. The book is about grief, history, independence, and hope. I enjoyed it. There is a meaningful piece of pottery at the center of this story and the history around it was fascinating. I could have read an entire novel about that by itself. To me, those chapters (which took us back in time to new characters) were the strongest of the book. I didn't enjoy the present chapters as much because of that. Still, though, this is an incredibly moving novel with a special story. I will be seeking out more books about the history included in this.

What a wonderful read. I loved Black Cake when I read it a few years ago and was so exited when I saw another release by this author. There is tragedy, trauma, healing, love and more all wonderfully woven together in this story. It’s hard not to feel a connection for every character in this story…even Avery. Thank you for the early release copy of this. This book will be a gift I purchase for a few of the readers in my life.

Good Dirt is written by the same author who wrote Black Cake which I loved. I do love this one a bit more. It has multiple POVs and timelines which alternate between the past and present. Charmaine Wilkerson has beautifully written this novel. It touches on many subjects including grief, racism, mental health, and ancestry.

This novel is about an affluent Black family who live in New England. The Freeman family suffer a tragedy in their family which changes them forever. The story goes back and forth from the 1800s to the present flawlessly exploring ancestry, trauma, and self forgiveness.

The chapters are short so it was easy to tear through the book. Good Dirt mainly follows Ebby Freeman from childhood to adulthood and how she turns her trauma into strength and love. She immerses herself into the Freeman legacy and finds the resilience to move on.

It is evident on the amount of research Charmaine Wilkerson completed. It is an emotional story—sad at times but also full of hope.

4.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you @netgalley and Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is one I am still pondering. I love the overall message, and I enjoy how the family dealt with the jar towards the end of the book, however I felt like some of the narrative was super disjointed. It took a long time for the author to come out and say that the reflections into the past were stories that Ebby was writing. Once that was revealed, I feel like the story flowed a bit better personally. I think this story is important and I love that it is being told.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Good Dirt tells the story of the Freeman family, dealing with the aftermath of their lives after a tragic event. It also tells the history of the family and an old clay jar made by one of their ancestors, who was enslaved.

This book is somewhat slower paced, and gets the reader to really think about the character’s emotions. I found myself frustrated at times with the lack of communication between characters, but I suppose that this happens in real life quite a bit.

The author did a great job of getting you to care about her characters, and the final message from the jar is a beautiful one.

Thanks for the review copy. I like the cover. This book is very interesting. I liked the parts in France best.