Black Cake

✮✮✮✮

May 25

Black Cake - Charmaine Wilkerson

my review : ✮✮✮✮

How is this Charmaine Wilkerson’s first novel!? What an incredible story.

Our story is about two estranged siblings who come together to mourn their beloved mother, Eleanor Bennett. When their mother passes, her lawyer contacts the children about something their mom left behind for them, specifically an audio recording of her life story. Her story is a harrowing and heart-wrenching one. Our story spans Eleanor's life, starting on a Caribbean island where Eleanor is born and twists and turns from there. This multigenerational book is a story of resiliency. Black Cake is truly an extraordinary journey.

This story alternates narrators and timelines which in other books I find confusing but in this story, I found well done and enthralling.

This is a heavy and well-told story that I am so glad I read.

This book is, naturally, best paired with black cake- which I’ve never had but I am now going to seek out ASAP. So, so much more than a dessert.

you’ll love this book if you love:

Reunited family
A deep and purposeful story

my favorite quote:

“And what about a person's life? How do you make a map of that? The borders people draw between themselves. The scars left along the ground of one's heart.”