Books To Read if You Loved Black Cake
The ingredients for Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson include: a dash of family secrets, a sprinkle of sibling drama, a whole heap of love — and one black cake for three siblings to share. When estranged siblings Benny and Byron Bennett reunite to listen to an hours-long voice message from their late mother Eleanor, years of tension, secrecy, and isolation come to a head as she recounts the events of her life before them — including another child. Knowing that her message will bring her children back together, she asks only one thing of them — share the traditional black cake that she left for them. This novel takes you from various countries, oceans, and timelines, and you’ll get to see it all on screen in the upcoming TV adaptation on Hulu. Enjoy these 10 books like Black Cake to keep you full until then.
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Add to BookshelfBlack Cake: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Charmaine Wilkerson
If you haven’t yet delved into this immersive family saga, start here! Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past — and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake — “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).
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The Vanishing Half
by Brit Bennett
In another tale of a mother hiding her past comes the story of Black twin girls Desiree and Stella, living in 1940s Louisiana. As they grow up, one chooses to live as a Black woman, while the other chooses to move to LA and pass as white. Though they live apart, and keep their children apart, their lives will weave back together in ways they couldn’t have predicted. As Stella keeps her identity a secret, even from her own daughter, and Desiree’s daughter keeps secrets of her own, we learn that sometimes it’s what keeps us apart that inevitably brings us back together again.
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The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
Explore the cultural and generational gaps that oftentimes come between immigrant parents and their children in The Joy Luck Club. Much like Eleanor — who, after she dies, reveals to her children that they have a sister — is Suyuan Woo, a Chinese immigrant who was forced to leave her twin daughters behind in China. After Suyuan’s death decades later, her American-born daughter Jing-Mei pursues her wish to find her long-lost sisters. Split into various timelines, and revolving around the lives of different characters, learn about the stories behind the women who form the Joy Luck club, and their daughters — two generations of women who can’t seem to understand each other despite being so similar.
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Memphis: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Tara M. Stringfellow
Like Black Cake, Memphis is told over the course of several decades, and through the eyes of three different generations of family members. When Miriam and her daughters return to Memphis to seek refuge after facing years of domestic violence, they are comforted by Miriam’s sister, August, but are also confronted with the painful past their family has endured. They find that each generation of women has been forced to endure life-altering violence, both at the hands of the men in their lives, and from the world around them. Following each generation we see that, despite the losses they’ve faced, they will never lose each other.
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The Death of Vivek Oji
by Akwaeke Emezi
This novel opens with one sentence that declares one thing — the market was burned down the day Vivek Oji died — before rewinding to the story of how Vivek’s parents came together in 1980s southern Nigeria. It is through their journey that we learn of the truth behind Vivek’s story and his sudden and frequent blackouts. While he is alienated because of these episodes, he is pushed further away from his family as he discovers his queer identity, much like Black Cake’s Benny. Despite the homophobia from his family, Vivek finds solace in the embrace of others like him. As the story is propelled by Vivek and his cousin Osita, we learn the details behind the murder and discover who had a hand in the death of Vivek Oji.
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There There
by Tommy Orange
In Black Cake, Byron and Benny grapple with the missing pieces of their cultural identity — There There brings to light similar feelings with several Indigenous characters and the ways they embrace their identities, or the things they do to revive them. When an Oakland Powwow brings together a group of Indigenous characters of different ages and backgrounds, we find that their lives are more intertwined than they even realize. Discover stories of long-lost siblings, estranged family members, secretive Powwow dancing, the making of a documentary — and how a 3D printer is the catalyst for the loss of everything these characters have.
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Malibu Rising: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
You’ll see the familiar theme of family secrets with celebrity siblings Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit Riva. During their annual end-of-summer party at their Malibu mansion, each sibling must guard the secrets they’re keeping from the world and each other. Not only will this night ignite a fire that will explode through their family it will also burn their beloved mansion down to dust. Between Nina and Hud keeping their problems out of the daylight, and Jay and Kit waiting for secret guests to appear under the cover of night, these siblings have no idea how much they’ll lose — or how much they’ll gain — by the next morning.
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
Although Sadie Green and Sam Masur meet at a hospital under horrific circumstances — Sadie’s sister is undergoing cancer treatments, and Sam’s mother has just been killed in a car accident — their bond over video games is immediate, though their friendship doesn’t last long. But years later, when the pair come back together again, they hold onto what first brought them together. Even after the pair launch a successful video game, they’ll have to fight to remain in each other’s lives. Much like Benny and Byron’s estrangement, Sadie and Sam will need to deal with the elephant in the room in order to make space for a brighter future — together.
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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
Black Cake and Lessons in Chemistry teach us that food can be so much more than just nourishment for the body. For the Bennetts, it means tradition. For Elizabeth Zott, it means chemistry. Working as a woman in a lab during the 1960s isn’t easy, and neither is being a single mother — something both Elizabeth and Eleanor come to learn. When it’s revealed that Elizabeth will have a child out of wedlock, she is forced out of the lab — and into the kitchen. Now the host of the wildly popular TV show, Supper at Six, Elizabeth is teaching women the chemistry behind cooking, and in turn, giving them the confidence to become so much more than just someone’s cook.
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Sula
by Toni Morrison
Sula and Nel’s childhood friendship may remind you of Eleanor and Bunny’s — full of love, and grief, and based on an unbreakable bond. Growing up together in Bottom, a fictional Ohio town, Sula and Nel understand each other in ways no one else can. And even more so when a devastating incident creates an everlasting bond that will haunt them for years to come. When Sula leaves Bottom only to return years later with a soured reputation, she and Nel rekindle their close friendship — but will their seemingly indestructible relationship survive not only the years and secrets but also the ultimate betrayal?
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The Seven Year Slip
by Ashley Poston
Benny and Byron are no strangers to grief, and neither is Clementine. Normally she’d be spending her summer with her Aunt Analea, galavanting across the world, and ticking off a different spot on the map. But this year is different — Aunt Analea is dead. Consumed by grief, Clementine goes through the day-to-day motions of going from work at a publishing house to her aunt’s apartment — the last piece she has left of her. But then, her routine is flipped upside down when she discovers she has a roommate — who lives seven years in the past. As Clementine gets to know the Iwan from the past, she also discovers pieces of her aunt’s own past. When certain events lead her to present-day Iwan, Clementine is not only shocked to find him — but to find that now he’s a completely different man.
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