Black Cake: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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4.3 • 48 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past—and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).
“Wilkerson transports you across the decades and around the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Malibu Rising
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, NPR, BuzzFeed, Glamour, PopSugar, Book Riot, She Reads
We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel opens with a riveting deathbed confession. Estranged siblings Benny and Byron Bennett are brought together to listen to a voice recording left for them by their late mother. She shares her secret life story—involving murder and a harrowing escape from an unspecified Caribbean island—and reveals the sacrifices she made to give her children a more stable life. The twists and turns of this story are as rich and tantalizing as the confection for which the book is named, but Black Cake also asks us to consider the legacy of colonialism and the struggle to define our identities on our own terms. Wilkerson’s ideas about what survives, and what gets lost, from one generation to the next linger long after the final page.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wilkerson debuts with a shining family saga that stretches from the 1960s Caribbean to present-day Southern California. After septuagenarian Eleanor Bennett dies, her lawyer plays a lengthy message she has recorded for her children Byron and Benny. The siblings have made for uneasy company with each other since a rift grew between them—Byron, the oldest, is laser-focused on his career, while his sister Benny is drifting. They knew their mother as a stern presence and an accomplished swimmer from somewhere in the Caribbean (who was also known to bake a rum and port soaked "black cake" from an old family recipe), but neither is prepared for what they learn from the recording. Eleanor is in fact Coventina "Covey" Lyncook, who was married off to a gangster named Little Man in 1965 by her debt-ridden father. At the wedding, Little Man drops dead, poisoned. Covey runs from the scene and, knowing she will be suspected of murder, swims away from the island. At first shocked by the revelations, Byron and Benny reconcile, and their mother's instructions to share a black cake she'd left in the freezer "when the time is right" take on great poignancy. Wilkerson offers superb descriptions of Covey's homeland, from the tension between those who speak patois and those who believe in the superiority of standard English, to sensual descriptions of food, surfing, and coastal terrain. Readers will adore this highly accomplished effort from a talented new writer.
Customer Reviews
Secrets!
Secrets, secrets, secrets that will take you to your grave! This book is all about secrets! Whether it be family, husband and wife, friendships or even between parents and child and siblings. I liked it! The story revolves in the Caribbean with Chineese immigrants living and blending with the community. A terrible event happens that forces the journey of the main character to take flight and live with many secrets she carries all the way to the grave. What I like about the book is that you discover the richness of family recipes such as the book title black cake. What history does those recipes hold in your family, what secrets they carry within your family. I love discovering about the island culture in this book and seing through the characters the discrimination they faced and overcame. No one’s perfect but it’s pretty high paced and you got to keep track as they introduce many changes in the characters. I’ve watched the series in Hulu that was released recently and it’s pretty good too. Of course I prefer the book, but the adapted series keeps you to your toes like the book.