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Title details for Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson - Available

Black Cake

A Novel

by Charmaine Wilkerson
Lynnette R. Freeman
Audiobook
1 of 3 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 3 copies available
NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past—and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).
 
“Wilkerson transports you across the decades and around the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Malibu Rising
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, NPR, BuzzFeed, Glamour, PopSugar, Book Riot, She Reads
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 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 1, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593505229
      • File size: 346665 KB
      • Duration: 12:02:13

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 13, 2021
      Wilkerson debuts with a shining family saga that stretches from the 1960s Caribbean to present-day Southern California. After septuagenarian Eleanor Bennett dies, her lawyer plays a lengthy message she has recorded for her children Byron and Benny. The siblings have made for uneasy company with each other since a rift grew between them—Byron, the oldest, is laser-focused on his career, while his sister Benny is drifting. They knew their mother as a stern presence and an accomplished swimmer from somewhere in the Caribbean (who was also known to bake a rum and port soaked “black cake” from an old family recipe), but neither is prepared for what they learn from the recording. Eleanor is in fact Coventina “Covey” Lyncook, who was married off to a gangster named Little Man in 1965 by her debt-ridden father. At the wedding, Little Man drops dead, poisoned. Covey runs from the scene and, knowing she will be suspected of murder, swims away from the island. At first shocked by the revelations, Byron and Benny reconcile, and their mother’s instructions to share a black cake she’d left in the freezer “when the time is right” take on great poignancy. Wilkerson offers superb descriptions of Covey’s homeland, from the tension between those who speak patois and those who believe in the superiority of standard English, to sensual descriptions of food, surfing, and coastal terrain. Readers will adore this highly accomplished effort from a talented new writer. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A complex family story simmers in this audiobook. Lynnette Freeman and Simone Mcintyre narrate with appropriate energy, wielding rich, precise voices with aplomb. After the recent death of their mother, Benny and Byron are presented with a recording that promises to illuminate family secrets. Once this frame story is established, the narrative breaks into various accounts of the family's origins, which are emotionally delivered but often challenging to follow in the audio format. The anecdotes are well told--they move briskly, and the narrators are invested in them. But each shift in timeframe or character requires the listener to readjust. While the strengths of Freeman and Mcintyre are evident in both exposition and dialogue, the listener would benefit from the ability to flip back through the pages of a print edition. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2022

      Estranged siblings Benny and Byron are reluctantly reunited after the death of their mother, Eleanor. She's left them a traditional Caribbean black cake and a long voice recording that unspools a family history kept secret for nearly 50 years. As they listen to the recording, the novel explores not just Eleanor's life and secrets, but also the siblings' childhood, their adult years, and the events that led to their estrangement. Two exceptional performances from narrators Lynnette Freeman and Simone Mcintyre bring Wilkerson's globe-trotting, decade-spanning debut novel vividly to life. Freeman narrates the bulk of the book in a deep, rich tone that works for characters of all ages and genders. Mcintyre voices the recording left by Eleanor in a gentle, musical Caribbean accent. The similarities in their voices create continuity between the novel's sections, while highlighting the recording that is the story's central element. VERDICT Grounded but filled with feeling, the narrators' performances perfectly match the tenor of Wilkerson's emotional novel. Highly recommended.--Emily Calkins

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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