In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.
Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor's true history, and fulfill her final request to "share the black cake when the time is right"? Will their mother's revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?
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.
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This was my January pick for my Book of the Month subscription and I am so glad I flipped a coin in favor of this book. When a debut novel is this incredible, it just gives me warm and fuzzy feels all over. *sigh* Confession: I’d never even heard of black cake before reading this book, so I don’t know which emoji best depicts it and will be using them all.
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As you can imagine from my 4.5 star rating, this book was near perfect. Beautifully written and successfully weaving multiple timelines, I was particularly drawn to the “flashback” timeline being shared by Eleanor Bennett. However, the characters in the present day timeline, Eleanor’s two adult children, were the weakest part of the story for me. I did not connect to or care about Byron or Benny and find myself skimming over their parts in the last quarter of the story. Because I found both of those prominent characters in this book to be flat and uninteresting, I knocked off half a star for this otherwise stellar debut.
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Thank you to the author along with NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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