The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Black Cake
Author: Charmaine Wilkerson
Published: February 2022
Genre: Literary
Themes: Family, Loss

One sentence summary: A novel of uncovered family secrets and the lengths people go to for survival.

One sentence review: I enjoyed the premise of this one, there was a lot going on and lots of twines to unravel.

Review:

When Benny and Byron’s mother passes, she leaves them a video message meant to help them find out who she they really are and their mother’s history. Estranged siblings, now famous friends, Eleanor’s story has it all.

Wilkerson’s debut has definitely peeked my interest and I can absolutely see how this could make great TV (I now just need to watch it!).

I really enjoyed the multiple storylines from so many different characters points of view, I love a story being well rounded like that. The pace dipped at points for me personally but the story and intrigue behind it kept it going.

This is definitely a book of questionable actions, with so many of the characters. Choices were made out of desperation that came back to haunt Eleanor and her children but there was heart in them. The vast cast also made for great listening on audio so I’d definitely recommend it on there.

I’m really excited to read Wilkerson’s second novel, Good Dirt, I’ve heard that it’s a brilliant one!

Have you read this one yet?

If you’d like to get yourself a copy, you can support local bookshops and my work while doing so on Bookshop.org with this link here.

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and my substack here.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 10/11/2025