November 25, 2024
In Wilkerson’s incohesive sophomore novel (after Black Cake), the daughter of a prominent Black New England family contends with heartbreak and trauma. Having recently been left at the altar by her white fiancé, Henry, Ebby is unwillingly back in the spotlight. When she was 10, her name was in the papers after she’d witnessed an armed robber kill her 15-year-old brother, Baz, in their home. Nine months after the breakup, Ebby accepts an offer to manage her friend’s rental house in rural France, where she plans to write down the history of a clay pot made by an enslaved craftsman that had been passed down by the Freemans for 150 years, until it was broken the night of Baz’s death. Her plans are disrupted, however, when Henry and his new girlfriend turn out to be the house’s first guests. The novel poses intriguing questions about the nature of legacy and race relations, and though Wilkerson attempts to connect the plot’s various strands through the story of the jar, revealing, for instance, that Henry might know something about the night it was broken, the pieces don’t quite come together. Readers will be disappointed. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary.
December 1, 2024
Ebony Freeman was 10 when her brother was killed in their home. Ebby saw the masked intruders before they shot 15-year-old Baz, simultaneously causing the destruction of a family heirloom stoneware jar. The nineteenth-century jar had been passed down through six generations, from the enslaved maker in South Carolina through the ancestor who found freedom escaping to Massachusetts as a ship's stowaway. Now the well-heeled Freemans are a prominent Black New England family, but their wealth and status couldn't save them from tragedy in this heartbreakingly magnificent second novel from the author of Black Cake (2022). Nearly two decades after her brother's murder, Ebby once again becomes the target of unwelcome notoriety after being abandoned by her fianc� on their wedding day. She escapes to a cottage in a French town only to unexpectedly meet the last person she wants to see. In this sweeping generational story of trauma and resilience, Ebby and her family confront the truth of the past and must decide how to shape their future, guided by the jar, its history, and the secret inscription it carries.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Black Cake was a Read with Jenna Book Club pick and a runaway best-seller that became a Hulu series, garnering Wilkerson a huge audience for her second generational family epic.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
February 1, 2025
The 2000 murder of a Black teen during a home invasion resonates through the years before and after. Wilkerson's ambitious follow-up toBlack Cake (2022) centers on a wealthy Black family, the Freemans, who have made their home on the Connecticut coast. The family's prized possession is a 20-gallon stoneware pot they call "Old Mo," made by an enslaved ancestor. The jar was broken during a horrible, never-solved incident in which masked men broke into their home and shot 15-year-old Baz to death in the presence of his 10-year-old sister, Ebony, called Ebby. As we meet Ebby, she has suffered a second trauma: In 2018, her rich white husband-to-be has ditched her on their wedding day for reasons that take a while to emerge. Wilkerson traces in detail the storylines of preceding generations of Freemans going back to Africa, follows Ebby and her family for the next several years--including an escape to France--and also features chapters focusing on various supporting characters with connections to the murder. With so much ground to cover, the overstuffed narrative loses steam. Furthermore, the reliance on a major improbable coincidence to force Ebby and her ex back together raises an eyebrow that never quite comes down, and the France section introduces additional characters with questionable claim on our attention. Is there really a reason to care about the trajectory of the woman Ebby's ex shows up with at his vacation rental? However, Wilkerson's highly readable writing style and wily withholding of a key secret will keep the pages turning happily enough for many readers. Much to admire, but half of what's here might have made for a more successful novel.
COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.