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Family saga set in the USA and the Caribbean

8th February 2022

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, family saga set in the USA and the Caribbean.

Family saga set in the USA and the Caribbean

The novel opens with Byron and Benny, estranged siblings, who have been brought together after the death of their mother Eleanor. Byron is an expert in oceanography and Benny is an artist – who dropped out of academia – to study art and has dreams of opening her own concept cafe, where she can bring the magic of cooking to her clientele. Mr Mitch, the lawyer, has a few surprises for them in store.

At the heart of the story is the traditional Caribbean Black Cake, which has blackened sugar, rum and dried fruit and lasts for years. Mother Eleanor invites her children, from beyond the grave, to share remaining pieces of the cake when the time is right.

Eleanor had to leave her childhood home in the Caribbean and eventually found the man she really wanted to marry. Through Mr Mitch, the lawyer, she tells her story and reveals details of which the children were unaware.

The book is divided into different parts and looks back over the years to the 1960s. The author feathers in an ever increasing number of characters to flesh out this family drama. With subtle effect the author also melds tailored issues around discrimination due to colour and culture, ethnicity and sexual orientation – and we know from fairly early on that Benny has felt herself forced from her family because of ingrained prejudices, culminating in her self inflicted ostracisation.

It is an unusual construct that works well to represent the complex and messy dynamics of a family over time, with all the highs and lows bearing down on the individuals, as their story unfolds. The chapters are quite short and hop back and forth in time and between the variety of characters which can be a little discombobulating. There is to my mind a surplus of themes, some of which demanded further development in order to make this story fully cohesive – perhaps a slightly tighter editorial hand would have been helpful. Overall, it is a timely story, a debut that shows great promise and it is certainly garnering some rave reviews.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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