Black Cake

THE INSTANT NO. 2 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**Featured on Barack Obama's Summer Reading List****Soon to be a major Hulu series by Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Kaplan and Marissa Jo Cerar***A Grazia Instagram 'IT' book to watch out for**Everyone wants to discover what they're made of . . .'A story as meaningful as it is delicious' TAYLOR JENKINS REID'A roiling soup of family secrets, big lies [and] great loves' NEW YORK TIMES'Special, beautifully written. Rich and intoxicating' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'My heart broke and was put back together. Bravo' NIKKI MAY, author of Wahala'Brilliant writing. A stunning book' PRIMA, 'BOOK OF THE MONTH'Eleanor Bennett won't let her secrets die with her . . .When Eleanor's estranged children Benny and Byron reunite for her funeral, they receive an unexpected inheritance. First, a traditional Caribbean black cake, to remind them of their roots. Second, the story of a decades-old murder that shatters everything they thought they knew about their mother.But as Benny and Byron unravel their family's troubled past, will the truth push them further apart?Or will it reunite them and fulfil Eleanor's final wish?'An extremely assured debut which pulls in threads and echoes from across the Caribbean diaspora to deliver a rich, complex and really satisfying novel' ALISON FINCH, BBC Radio 4 'I was instantly taken in by this multi-generational tale of identity, family, and the lifelong push and pull of home. This novel has a tremendous heart at its centre, and I felt its beat on every page. What an extraordinary debut' MARY BETH KEANE, author of Ask Again, Yes'This emotional, heartfelt debut explores the meaning of home and the family that define it' SUNDAY EXPRESS

Unputdownable. Astonishing. Twists and turns so shocking they will leave your head spinning and your heart aching, An extremely assured debut which pulls in threads and echoes from across the Caribbean diaspora to deliver a rich, complex and really satisfying novel, A delicious novel. The chapters come fast and furious . . . A satisfying literary meal, heralding the arrival of a new novelist to watch, Black Cake is a beautiful, deeply resonant story of children trying to understand the mother they have lost. Charmaine Wilkerson transports you across the decades and the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters. She has managed to tell a story that is as meaningful as it is delicious. At turns delightfully juicy and then stunningly wise, Black Cake is a winner, Black Cake explores the ways we use meals not just to nourish ourselves but to help tell unspeakable stories. Family, food, festering resentment - you'll find plenty to chew on . . . Wilkerson approaches her plot like a mad chef, grabbing ingredients from all over the world, slicing and dicing with abandon, tossing characters and palm fronds and a few drops of rum into a pot and letting it all come to a simmer . . . A roiling soup of family secrets, big lies, great loves, bright colours and strong smells

Charmaine Wilkerson, an American writer, spent much of her childhood living in the Caribbean and is now based in Rome. A former television news reporter, journalist and recovered marathon runner, she is a debut novelist and an award-winning writer of short fiction. Black Cake is in development as a Hulu original series produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films, Marissa Jo Cerar and Kapital Entertainment.