Good Dirt

Title:  Good Dirt

Author:  Charmaine Wilkerson

Publication Information:  Ballantine Books. 2025. 368 pages.

ISBN:  0593358368 / 978-0593358368

Rating:   ★★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "'Shhh,' her bother says."

Favorite Quote:  "What had they done? This was the question that hung in the air above every black family that had ever run into misfortune. And not only. It was a subtext understood by so many women, of any color, who had ever been harmed. It was the question that few dared to ask out loud but many had in mind, with regard to families that struggled to pay the bills. It was the question asked by those who wishes to avoid acknowledging that responsibility might lie elsewhere. What did you do?"

From Connecticut to the South to Africa to Europe and around again, this book tells a circular story centered around one family, one family heirloom, and one act of violence that forever altered them.

At the center of the story is Ebony "Ebby" Freeman. The two defining moments of her life... At age ten, she sees her older brother murdered in a home invasion. At twenty something, she is left standing waiting at the alter as her groom does not show. After being jilted with no explanation, she runs away to France to a friend. Ebby's story is about coming to terms with her past and forging a path forward. "This was the true miracle of life, he thought. Not so much to be born as to bear up under what comes your way. To find a way forward. To embrace what was good."

Surrounding Ebby are her loving parents. The Freemans are the only Black family in an otherwise completely white enclave of Connecticut. They are successful in their careers and affluent. They cherish their children. Because of their son's brutal death, they are even more protective of Ebby.

Anchoring this family is their history, particularly as it is embodied in Old Mo. Old Mo is a stoneware jar that has been in the family for generations. The book intersperses Ebby's story with the stories of those generations and their trials through being ripped from their home to the enslavement of generations to the eventual treacherous journey to freedom. The clay of the jar gives the book its title. "Her dad's mom would like the soil around here. Good dirt, she would say. There is a town, not far away, that is famous for its clay."

The jar is all the more special for its secrets - words engraved in the clay as reading and writing was forbidden for slaves. However, the maker of the jar knew. "... Words also had the power to hold memory." And "Words have power. So does the absence of words. Sometimes, when people choose not to speak, their silence can block out the sun."

This book, like Charmaine Wilkerson's debut Black Cake, covers a lot of ground. Through all the characters and their individual stories, the book delves into this nation's history:

• "Most of the trouble in this world boils down to one person not recognizing the worth of another."
• "Things are always changing ... It's true, some of the worst things keep repeating themselves, but things do change. And as citizens, we can do our part to keep things moving in the right direction."
• "History, too often, has been told from only certain perspectives. This is not good enough. History is a collective phenomenon. It can only be told through a chorus of voices. And that chorus must make room for new voices over time."

Yet, the story winds back again and again to Ebby and her parents, grounding that history through the lives of this family. Another wonderful story by the author.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Black Cake

Title:  Black Cake

Author:  Charmaine Wilkerson

Publication Information:  Ballantine Books. 2022. 400 pages.

ISBN:  0593358333 / 978-0593358337

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "He should have known it would come to this."

Favorite Quote:  "Are you going to let someone else's view of who you should be, and what you should do, hold you back?"

The origin of black cake lies in British plum pudding, but the heart of black cake lies in the Caribbean. The tradition is to bake the cake just before Christmas and eat a little bit at a time until all of it is gone. Baking the cake is a days long process because the cake takes its flavor from fruits soaked in rum and/or brandy for days before the bake. Like many traditions, the cake takes on unique renditions in each family and becomes part of the family heritage passed down generation from generation.

"There it is, where it has always been, a piece of folded, lined notepaper where her mother had scribbled down the recipe for her black cake .... Rum, sugar, vanilla. And the occasional verb. Cream, rub, mix... the recipe has no number no quantities at all. Wait, was it always this way? ... her mother's recipe was never so much a list of firm quantities and instructions as a series of hints for how to proceed... What Benny learned from her mother had been handed down through demonstration, conversation, and proximity."

For Benny and Byron Bennett, a black cake is a last gift from their mother Eleanor. A cake and a recording of Eleanor telling her story is their heritage. Eleanor's history becomes the story within the story of this book. And a complicated story it is! Benny and Byron are estranged, but their mother's death brings them together. Each brings their own history, emotions, and baggage of their childhood. For each, it forms who they are as individuals. Through their mother's story comes the story of their own self-discovery and a path forward.

Through Eleanor's story, they realize how little they know - or knew - of their childhood and the woman who was their mother. Eleanor's story is that of a swimmer, of the islands, of a marriage bargain made for family finances, of friendship, of a death, of an escape, of reinvention, of leaving behind all that you are, of immigration, and of legacies like the black cake that you take with you.

This book covers a lot of ground. Through all the characters and their individual stories, the book delves into societal and political issues. Sometimes the story starts to scatter into the issues. Sometimes, the plot moves conveniently like family members uniting quickly and seamlessly after years of estrangement. Yet, the thread always winds back to Eleanor's story, which is emotional and compelling. 

Charmaine Wilkerson is a journalist turned novelist. Given that this is Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel, I very much look forward to what she writes next.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.