Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (audiobook)

 genre: adult fiction

Benny and Byron aren't speaking.  There are a lot of good reasons for two siblings being estranged but it makes things even more complicated when they loose their mother, the last living relative they have in common.  When their mother's last wish is for them to listen to a recording she made for them while she was still alive, a vibrant and tumultuous history reveals a woman and a past that they had no idea of.   As small pieces are put together, as relationships are unfolded, as places go from a spot on a map to a homeland, Benny and Byron have to figure out if they have any interest in following where their beloved mother has led them.

This is just a really good story.  I loved the narrative voice of their mom, Eleanor. I enjoyed the twists and turns of her life and the way it was pieced together, even the heartache felt as believable as the joy.  There is redemption and people lost and then found.  There is the connection between mothers and daughters, between the land where we grow up and the land that we choose, and there is the way that tradition binds us to the long line that we descend from. I really liked Black Cake and it's recipe as a theme, as a constant - because for myself, too, food ties me to those who came before, to the girl I was and the woman I've become.  I kind of wanted the story to happen in a real place, instead of a more made up Caribbean Island, but so much of the history was real Caribbean history that it didn't spoil it.  The ending felt a little bit rushed compared to the rest of it, but this really was enjoyable for me.  I think it deserves all of 4.5 stars.