Black Cake

Anyone else considering baking a black cake during/after reading this?

Eleanor Bennett has passed away and she has left a recorded message for her two estranged children, Byron, and Benny. Leaving behind a message isn’t unheard of when a will/inheritance is read. But Eleanor’s recorded message is longer than most. In it she shares things with her children that she never shared while she was alive, family secrets, details about her life, a secret child, and more much, much more. Then when they are done listening, they are to share a traditional Caribbean black cake.

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

Byron and Benny are very different people leading very different lives. Their mother’s death brings them together and they must face each other, look deep within themselves, all while listening to their mother’s story. It’s quite a story. It’s also full of characters which became a bit much at times.

This story is told in the present and in the past, which worked for me in this novel as we learn about the siblings and their lives, but also about their mother’s life as well. There are several themes in this book – identity, family, tradition, loss, acceptance, secrets, how food connects us, reconciliation. I also enjoyed reading as Benny and Byron learned more about their mother. As children, we think we know our parents – and we do to a degree – but we know them as our parents, but we don’t know everything about them as their family or friends might now. This awareness was shocking to them, but I feel it did help each to grow.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.