“You were never just you, and you owed it to the people you cared about to remember that.”
Nominated for both Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel in the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards, Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake is an evocative exploration of the decisions made by family members that can shape our present-day relationships. The book follows siblings Byron and Benny who have a strange inheritance from their mother, Eleanor – a black cake. Through a voice recording, their mother chronicles her turbulent life and all of the secrets she has kept hidden. The pair are forced to piece together Eleanor’s true life, all while attempting to rekindle their once-close relationship. Join us at What We Reading as we pay homage to Wilkerson’s spellbinding work with the best historical fiction books like Black Cake!
Who Wrote Black Cake?
Black Cake is a 2022 historical fiction book by Charmaine Wilkerson. A former marathon runner, journalist and award-winning short story author, Black Cake marks her first published novel and has been adapted by Oprah’s Harpo Films. A New York Times bestseller, the book taps into Wilkerson’s Caribbean roots with its premise of a young swimmer fleeing her island home on suspicion of murder. Part mystery, part coming-of-age, it taps into the feeling of never letting go of your roots.
What’s Mine And Yours – Naima Coster
Picked out by Wilkerson herself as one to read if you enjoyed Black Cake, Naima Coster’s What’s Mine and Yours is an exploration of class, motherhood, race and identity. In Piedmont, North Carolina, the introduction of an initiative that will see predominately black students join a previously predominately white high school has caused outrage.
For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a series of events that will see their lives and the lives of their families for generations to come intrinsically tied together. At the head of both families are two head-strong matriarchs, determined to take care of and protect their children.
The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
Like Black Cake, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half is another Goodreads-nominee for Best Historical Fiction, winning in 2020. Weaving together the stories of multiple strands and generations, it is a tale that takes readers from the 1950s to the 1990s, from the Deep South to California. The Vigne sisters are identical twins, but their lives have moved in polar opposite directions since running away from home at the age of sixteen.
But, as their two daughters’ lives become intertwined, what will their fates and the fates of their families look like? The Vanishing Half is a profound dive across American history, simultaneously considering the past’s lasting influence on our desires, decisions and expectations.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Vanishing Half
Memphis – Tara M. Stringfellow
One of the best books like Black Cake for capturing the magic of inheritance and what we pass down to our generations, Tara M. Stringfellow’s Memphis is a story of love, loss, forgiveness and sacrifice. Beginning in the summer of 1995, the book follows ten-year-old Joan as she and her family flee her father’s violent temper and seek sanctuary in her mother’s ancestral home.
As she grows up, Joan finds work as an artist, painting portraits of her community in Memphis. However, through her enigmatic neighbour Miss Dawn, Joan soon begins to unearth a series of secrets and discoveries that demonstrate how the mothers in her family have put their dreams on hold and made impossible decisions to preserve them.
Check Out The Best Books About The Blues
Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane
Another New York Times bestseller like Black Cake, and lauded as one of the best books of 2019 by People, Vogue and Elle, Ask Again, Yes is a historical fiction tale by Mary Beth Keane. Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are two NYPD rookies working in the suburbs. But it is the lives and events that follow their wives, Lena and Anne, that set the stage for the explosive events that follow.
Born just six months apart, friendship and love begin to blossom between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope. Until one night, when their loyalties are pushed to their absolute limit. Their bond continues to be stretched over the next thirty years, with Ask Again, Yes painting a gorgeous portrait of redemption, forgiveness and the daily intimacies of marriage.
The Death Of Vivek Oji – Akwaeke Emezi
Raised by an overprotective mother and distant father, Vivek suffers from moments of disconnection between himself and his surroundings. As he grows up, he begins to find comfort in the friendships he has with the daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. Out of all his friendships, however, his closest is with Osita.
Osita doesn’t understand the escalating crisis inside Vivek, and the growing connection eventually leads to a daunting act of violence, and a moment of exhilarating freedom. Akwaeke Emezi’s The Death of Vivek Oji is one of the best books like Black Cake for those looking for a read that challenges expectations and examines family, friendship and loss.
Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Set in Malibu in 1983, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising is the pulsating story of four famous siblings and an end-of-summer party that will change their lives forever.
As the offspring of legendary singer Mick Riva, Nina, Kit, Jay and Hud’s lives have fascinated the world for years. So when it comes to hosting their annual end-of-summer party, it quickly becomes the event everyone wants an invite to. However, by midnight, this party will soon be spiralling out of control and the venue up in flames. Malibu Rising is the story of the secrets the Rivas want to finally bring to light, and what they will continue to choose to leave behind.
Check Out The Best Books Like Malibu Rising
There There – Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange’s shattering novel, There There, is a story of twelve characters from Native communities all being driven to the Big Oakland Powwow, and all being connected in ways they don’t first realise.
There There is a celebration and homage to the plight of the urban Native American, forced to grapple with complex and painful histories that are coupled with inheritances enriched with spirituality, heroism and sacrifice. Unflinching in its delivery, Orange’s debut novel is an ambitious work that is sure to resonate with readers as they thread the characters and stories together.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
