Black Cake was the debut novel by Charmaine Wilkerson, published in 2022. It was a bit hit and was even featured on Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List 2022.
The Black Cake book was so successful, it’s now being made into a major drama series for Hulu by Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Kaplan and Marissa Jo Cerar.
The premise of Black Cake captivated me immediately, as it promised a blend of mystery, family saga, and a multigenerational story.
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Plot
Eleanor’s dying wish is for her estranged children, Benny and Byron, to finally reunite and rediscover the close relationship they used to share as siblings.
Therefore when Benny and Byron both attend their mother’s funeral, they receive an unexpected inheritance.
First, a traditional Caribbean black cake, to remind them of their roots. Secondly, they receive a recording of their mother as she tells them the truth about their family’s troubled past.
As they learn of a decades-old murder, it shatters everything they thought they knew about their mother. Will the truth finally reunite the siblings or will it push them further apart?
Black Cake Book Review
I loved this book! I was absolutely gripped from start to finish.
There were so many things to love about Black Cake. It was a coming of age story but there was also a murder mystery, romance and so many family secrets. I love a good family saga and I enjoyed the multigenerational ties throughout the book.
Black Cake is very much a character driven novel and I found all of them to be so well developed and authentic. They were flawed and realistic and I loved them all (other than Covey’s dad!)
The book is so beautifully written and jam packed full of symbolism. The switches in timeline were done really well and it was easy to forget this was a debut novel. The story includes numerous perspectives and the author captures the different voices and points of view really well and without any confusion.
The story takes the reader from the Caribbean, to the UK and then on to the USA. The change in location allows the reader to explore the questions of what is home and how do we find our identity.
The Caribbean Islands were beautifully captured and although I’ve never had black cake, I felt like I could taste it.
Black Cake is very much a love story, but not purely a romantic one. Familial love and the love between friends feature heavily within the book.
There are so many themes running throughout the book, including pollution of the ocean, racism, sexual violence and gender equality. This makes it a really heart wrenching read at times, yet ultimately the reader is left with a feeling of hope.
What to read next
If you enjoyed the multigenerational story telling in Black Cake, I would definitely recommend Memphis by Tara Stringfellow. If you enjoyed reading about the family dynamics, I would also suggest reading People Person by Candice Carty Williams.