Black Cake
-
2022’s most unforgettable debut soon to be a major Hulu series produced by Oprah
Brought to you by Penguin.
Crossing continents and juggling lives, Black Cake is a powerful story of love and loss, kinship and separation, heartache and hope, spanning sixty years in the life of one family
Eleanor Bennett won't let her own death get in the way of the truth. So when her estranged children - Byron and Benny - reunite for her funeral in California, they discover a puzzling inheritance.
First, a voice recording in which everything Byron and Benny ever knew about their family is upended. Their mother narrates a tumultuous story about a headstrong young woman who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder, a story which cuts right to the heart of the rift that's separated Byron and Benny.
Second, a traditional Caribbean black cake made from a family recipe with a long history that Eleanor hopes will heal the wounds of the past.
Can Byron and Benny fulfil their mother's final request to 'share the black cake when the time is right'? Will Eleanor's revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?
'I was instantly taken in by this multi-generational tale of identity, family, and the lifelong push and pull of home. This novel has a tremendous heart at its centre, and I felt its beat on every page. What an extraordinary debut' Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes
© Charmaine Wilkerson 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
-
Imprint: Penguin
-
Published: 03/02/2022
-
ISBN: 9781405951470
-
RRP: £13.00
Reviews
-
Black Cake is a beautiful, deeply resonant story of children trying to understand the mother they have lost. Charmaine Wilkerson transports you across the decades and the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters. She has managed to tell a story that is as meaningful as it is delicious. At turns delightfully juicy and then stunningly wise, Black Cake is a winner
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones and The Six
-
I was instantly taken in by this multi-generational tale of identity, family, and the lifelong push and pull of home. This novel has a tremendous heart at its centre, and I felt its beat on every page. What an extraordinary debut
Mary Beth Keane, bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
-
So beautifully written I'm struggling to believe it's a debut. The cake is the glue that holds all the layers together and the scenes are so well drawn I could almost taste the cake, feel the warm sea on my skin. My heart broke and was put back together. Bravo
Nikki May, author of Wahala
-
An extremely assured debut which pulls in threads and echoes from across the Caribbean diaspora to deliver a rich, complex and really satisfying novel
Alison Finch, BBC Radio 4
-
BLACK CAKE has all the ingredients of the tastiest stories: secrets, romance, danger, and a cast of characters so real you want to scream at them one moment and hug them the next. I felt nearly breathless while reading Eleanor's truth - as if I were right there in the room with Byron and Benny, wholly immersed in their mother's tragedies and triumphs
Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev
-
A stunning page-turner, with characters that felt real and relatable. I can't recommend this book highly enough. An incredible debut
Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City
-
Black Cake took a hold of me from the first page and didn't let go ... A gripping, poignant debut from an important new voice
Naima Coster, New York Times bestselling author of What’s Mine and Yours
-
A multi-generational debut generating hype
Grazia
