Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Views 2.6K
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
no ratings

In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

  • File Name:black-cake-by-charmaine-wilkerson.epub
  • Original Title:Black Cake
  • Creator:
  • Language:en-US
  • Identifier:9780593358344
  • Publisher:Random House Publishing Group
  • Date:2022-02-01
  • File Size:5.307 MB

Table of Content

  • 1. Cover
  • 2. Title Page
  • 3. Copyright
  • 4. Contents
  • 5. Prologue
    • Then: 1965
  • 6. Part One
    • Now: 2018
    • Benny
    • The Message
    • B and B
    • Benny
    • The Recording
    • Homecoming
    • Byron
    • Mr. Mitch
    • Byron
    • Sister
    • Then
    • Covey
    • Lin
    • The Bay
    • Covey and Gibbs
    • Lin
    • Storm
    • Burning
    • Lin
    • Now: A Piece of Home
    • Homesickness
    • Byron
    • Byron and Benny
    • Lost
    • How to Become a College Dropout
    • What You Don’t Say
    • The Bennetts
    • Byron on the Tube
    • Byron
    • Distance
    • Then: Mummy and Pearl
    • Covey
    • The Price
    • Covey
    • Covey and Gibbs
    • Matrimony
    • Black Cake
    • Lin
    • Bunny
    • Pearl
    • Covey
    • London
    • Now: Mrs. Bennett
    • Byron and Benny
    • Mrs. Bennett
  • 7. Part Two
    • Then: Elly
    • The Gate
    • Cake
    • Covey and Elly
    • Becoming Elly
    • Elly, Elly
    • Eleanor Douglas
    • Loss
    • Mrs. Bennett
    • Driftwood
    • Short Shirt
    • Bunny
    • Bright Future
    • Unthinkable
    • Mrs. Bennett
    • Separation
    • Mrs. Bennett
    • Reunion
    • Back Then
    • Now: Benny
    • Byron
  • 8. Part Three
    • One Year Earlier: Etta Pringle
    • There Was a Place
    • Decency
    • The Accident
    • Byron
    • The Usual
    • My Name Is Benny
    • Cake
    • Benny Writes
    • Now: Mrs. Bennett
    • Betrayed
    • Mr. Mitch
    • Charles Mitch
    • The Rest of the Story
    • Then: Bert
    • Thanksgiving Day, 2010
    • If Only
    • My Baby Girl
    • Etta Pringle
    • Eleanor
  • 9. Part Four
    • Chapter 2017: Marble
    • Recipe for Love
    • Sugar
    • Wanda
    • Then: Because Money Talks
    • Height
    • Now: Mrs. Bennett
    • Chayote
    • Prognosis
    • Her Baby Girl
    • Iguana
    • Now: Inheritance
    • Anonymity
    • Depth
    • Listening
    • Farewells
    • Mrs. Bennett
    • Benny and Steve
    • Beautiful Girl
    • Benny
    • Mrs. Bennett
    • Fish Story
    • Recipe
    • Byron
    • Protest
    • Expecting
    • Who I Am
    • Marble
    • Wanda
    • Benny
    • Marble
    • Byron
    • Another Message
    • Cake
    • About Love
    • More Than Life
    • Reunion
    • Shipwreck
    • Mapping the Ocean
    • The Letter
    • Pearl
    • Lin
    • Meeting Lin
    • Unthinkable
    • Plunder
    • Byron
    • Consultation
    • Surf
    • Director
    • Baby
    • Benny
    • Marble
    • Answers
    • Mathilda, 1961
    • Etta Pringle
    • Lin
    • Then: One Summer Night
    • Pearl, 1965
    • The Moment
    • Back Then
    • Now: Rest in Peace
  • 10. Author’s Note
  • 11. Dedication
  • 12. Acknowledgments
  • 13. About the Author

0 comments
Comment author placeholder