BLACK CAKE

by Charmaine Wilkerson

MINI REVIEW

I was drawn to Black Cake because it seemed everyone, everywhere was reading this debut novel.  The story begins with Byron and Bennie, brother and sister, who have been estranged for years, but who are thrust together to hear their mother Eleanor’s lawyer read them her will and last requests.  This premise might seem tired, but Wilkerson’s execution is brilliant.  In the course of the novel, Wilkerson crafts an unforgettable story of what it was like for their mother to grow up on a small Caribbean island the only child of a gambling father and an absent mother.  Forced by her father’s actions to flee the island and create a new life in England, Benny and Byron are shocked to hear that their mother – and their father – had lived full and secret lives of which they had no knowledge.  A very clever story about identity, Black Cake draws a fascinating portrayal of how we all struggle to define ourselves and how that evolves over time.  Black Cake tells a multi-generational story about love and family and will keep you absorbed from beginning to end. (Liz)