Such an impressive first novel by Charmaine Wilkerson. Black Cake is both a small family story and an epic family saga in one book.
It focuses on a family over many decades. From the Caribbean, to 1960s Britain, to California in the 1980s and current times. While the difficult subjects of colonialism, discrimination and inequality run through the book, it is mostly about love, loyalty and family. It's secrets were revealed in a way that made it difficult to put the book down.
Clever and engaging, I enjoyed it immensely. I will be recommending it wholeheartedly (including for book clubs.) I am very much looking froward to what comes next from Ms Wilkerson.
I am giving#BlackCake five stars without any doubt.. Thank you to the author, her publishers and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent novel.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this beautifully written book and cannot believe that it is the author's debut novel. There are so many different aspects to this story, and they made me laugh, cry and imagine what a life of choices, which are sometimes forced upon you can change your pathway in life.

I really enjoyed the two timelines and thought it worked really well especially as each circumstance is analysed by each character throughout. Has to be one of my favourite books for 2021.

A really well written book, that got better with reading, a bit like the ingredients of the cake! It tells an amazing story about relationships between families and friends and with a central theme of the Black Cake. It is not all sweetness and roses and tells of some of the pressures that young people had to endure in the West Indies during the 60s and early 70s

This is a fascinating unique take on family, family history and diaspora, interwoven with baking and family recipes, swimming and a love of the water.
Definitely buy it if you love reading about family secrets, and want to follow siblings Byron and Benny as they uncover their monthers past and find that there is far more to their family than they first thought. The book travels from modern day California back to the Caribbean of their parents' childhood.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is a multi-generational story about family, tragedy, identity, love and loss.

Cleverly structured, I enjoyed the different character perspectives and the different settings.

Read it in one sitting - and would actually re-read, I found myself desperate to get to the end, but it’s really well written and definitely worth savouring it!

I very much enjoyed this tale. Lots of endearing characters experiencing various trials, tribulations, secrets, and intergenerational misunderstanding. The making and eating of the the black cake provides a constant thread throughout the book as well as some culinary and cultural history. The writing is engaging, plausible and flows - what an excellent book, it was a pleasure to read.

Wow, what a fantastic book. It had me gripped from the start. I felt as if I was watching the story unfold. It made me sad, angry, tearful and happy in different points in the story.
I learnt so much from this book but in an interesting and informative way.
Looking outside my life and putting myself in someone else's footsteps was amazing.
I cannot thank Charmaine Wilkerson enough for writing this book.

Thanks to the publishers and Net Galley for a free e-copy

Amazing! What a debut. couldn't believe when i got to the end and read about the author this is Charmaine's first novel. I absolutely loved story.

Black Cake begins by us being introduced to a brother and sister Byron and Benny meeting after not seeing each other for years when their mum passes away. A voice recording will reveal family secrets and tragedy's that will change their histories forever.

Set between the island (Caribbean) London and California I loved all the different descriptions of the different countries, including yummy food, vegetation and wildlife. Also loved the connection to the water, ocean and sea for most of the characters.

Flow, language and short chapters also made for a great read.

I will definitely be looking out for new books by this author and highly recommend any one looking for a book about family, love, loss and hope.

I really enjoyed this book - it was emotionally powerful and raw in its intensity but also warm and moving. It holds you in its hands as you see love and betrayal, power and strength, hope and despair, compassion and cruelty - it has the lot!
This book tells the story of a fractured pair of siblings that come together following the death of their Mother. In doing so, her history is unveiled... The family must confront themselves and their sense of their past in new ways and find a new understanding of who and what they are.
The plot was pacey and the characters so strong that you felt that you knew them. I loved the strength of friendship that powers this book and the strength of spirit that is celebrated within its pages and across several characters. It was a fantastic read and I will be eagerly watching out for another one from this fantastic author.

A cross-generational family story that will keep you guessing until the very end. Whilst the constant switching between characters sometimes preventing me from fully immersing myself into the narrative, ultimately all the twists and turns paid off in the finale.

Byron and Benny haven’t spoken for eight years but are brought together by the death of their mother and a recording she made for them about her earlier life. This is a powerful story about three generations of a family from the Caribbean. It spans Covey as a young girl, abandoned by her mother then married off by her father, to her life lived with hidden lies. I enjoyed the journey and it’s many facets. My only negative criticism is that climate change and the treatment of people of colour by American police seemed a little shoe horned into the story.

Black Cale is quite simply stunning. I got completely lost in the world of Benny and Byron and their family. It’s a book about so many things; family, identity, love, resilience, race, culture, belonging…. I could go on. Usually when a book is written in dual timelines I find I ‘prefer’ one to the other but this was absolutely not the case here. Both timelines were compelling and felt authentically written as well as historically accurate. The prose is beautiful and the plotting deft, surprising me with its twists and turns that felt like life, not devices. Just loved it.

This was probably the most frustrating book I have read recently! Estranged siblings meet up at their deceased mother’s solicitors to hear a tape she has recorded telling them of a long lost sister they know nothing about! This is a story that tells us of the history, the pain and the anguish of a woman confused by her forefathers, of colour, of race, of tradition and of family! It could have, should have worked and been brilliant.! Instead it became confusing, long winded and irritating! We were buffeted from one generation, from one time zone, from one family to another, more people were introduced, names were changed and oh my goodness, it was all far, far too much! Such a shame as it had such promise! The story could just have been told from beginning to end - simple!

A powerful, expansive, stunning debut. Centred on an audio recording left to estranged siblings Benny and Byron following their mother’s death, Black Cake ends up telling the stories of intertwining lives across generations. It is a story about identity, secrets, love, loss and the bonds that hold us together.
Wilkerson is clearly a huge new talent and I’ll look forward to seeing what she does next.

An amazing debut from Charmaine Wilkerson, this is a multi-generational tale of love lost and found.

This story is beautifully written, skilfully weaving together the characters to tell their tale of family and identity across the years. There are secrets to be uncovered, truths to be found out and of course, a hefty dose of romance with a dash of danger to speed things along.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and was fully immersed with Benny and Byron in their quest, right to the very end. The ending was satisfying without feeling cliched - I felt that I could almost taste the cake and made me think of my own grandmother's fruit cake recipe used for weddings, Christmas and any other big occasions!

A beautiful ode to the Caribbean culture and history. The intertwined stories of generations throughout the years and continents. It is weirdly addictive for a fiction book and it goes to show how beautifully and cleverly written this novel is. Being of Caribbean heritage myself, I teared up a bit as I felt enveloped as well as overwhelmed by all the emotions brought up by “Black cake”. A magnificent story which should not be missed.

This is the quickest I have got through a book in a little while. I very quickly became attached the main character Covey and wanted to understand how her children had become so disconnected from each other. I enjoyed the structure of the book with the story being told from the viewpoint of a different character in a different period of time. Moving at times, a great book from this first time novelist. I am not surprised this is being made into a TV series.

This story is incredible. It’s hard to describe the intricacies you find as each page is turned, how one event is linked to another, how a person could disappear and still find themselves. Despite originating decades back there is so much in the book that feels incredibly real and current. Byron’s daily experience of racism, Benny’s confusion over her identity, not to mention the consistent knocks that Covey experienced as a young black woman with no family support, Charmaine’s talent is obvious- to be able to intertwine so many interesting threads of a story around the black cake is just mind blowing. I absolutely loved it- a refreshing change to my usual genre.

Where to start with this novel spanning generations of a family and countries including the West Indies, England, America and Italy?
At the heart of the story is black cake, a delicious West Indian concoction with a recipe passed through the women in the Bennett family.
But also at its heart are terrible secrets, friendships and loss that culminate in a deathbed testimonial read to three children by their mother’s lawyer.
I won’t say more: the stories are intriguing and come together beautifully.
Occasionally the author addresses some huge societal issues such as slavery and police harassment of black people and these feel a little clunky while hugely important, but this is a minor point in this beautiful and completely absorbing first novel.
Recommended: the great characterisation and plotting will stay with me for a long time. I’m bereft now it’s over!