Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson

 

Characters
Then	Now
Coventina Brown “Covey” Mathilda – mother, disappeared Johnny “Lin” Lyncook – father Pearl – family helper   Gibbs Grant - boyfriend   Bunny – Covey’s friend   Clarence Henry “Little Man” – was to marry Covey   “Short Shirt” Higgins – tried to poison Percival, took suspicion from Covey for Little Man’s death Percival Henry – Little Man’s brother   Eleanor (Covey) – raped by boss, gave daughter up for adoption   Eleanor Douglas “Elly” – killed in train crash, Covey took her identity	Eleanor Bennett – Covey Bert Bennett – Gibbs Bryon – son  Benedetta “Benny” – daughter   Lynette – Bryon’s girlfriend   Marble Martin – Eleanor’s daughter given up for adoption, cookbook author Husband – deceased Gio – son, boarding school   Etta “Bunny” Pringle – distance swimmer   Charles Martin - lawyer

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2022 paperback edition.

1.       As you were reading the book, who did you think the characters were in the Prologue?   How long did it take for you to figure out who everyone was?

2.       What was the message Pearl was sending Covey with the lilac flowers on top of the wedding cake?  “Finally, Covey understood what she was looking at.  It was a small consolation, but it was something” (page 120).

3.       Who did you think poisoned “Little Man?”  Why did Pearl have the bottle of poison?  We did not find out until the very end of the novel that it was Bunny who poisoned his champagne.  Were you surprised?  Bunny and Covey kept that secret for ever – would it have changed anything if the truth were known years later? 

4.       When Eleanor was pregnant with her first daughter, she was taken in by nuns who gave her no choice but to give up the baby for adoption.  How would keeping the baby have changed both Eleanor’s and Marble’s life?

5.       Eleanor decided the baby deserved “something that Eleanor was not.  Eleanor wanted to keep her baby, but she saw that who you knew yourself to be on the inside was not the same as how others saw you” (page 182).   Did you understand her decision?

6.       Twice the author used the phrase “kissed her teeth.”   What action do you think this is?

7.       Who do you think is responsible for the rift between Benny and her parents?  When she told her parents, Byron also did not reach out to her.   Given Eleanor’s history, do you think she should have been more understanding?   Who is to blame?

8.       At one point, Benny crashed a AAA meeting because she was looking for a place where she was unconditionally accepted.  She “was tired of having her authenticity as a person called into question simply because she did not fit the roles that others wanted her to play” (page 214).   It seemed that Eleanor could have easily understood this feeling.  Why do you think she did not?

9.       Discuss Byron.  He came and stayed with Eleanor and “did everything for his mother while Benny was off who know where” (page 224).   Did you understand his resentment?  Was there anything he could have done?

10.   Upon reflection after both of his parents passed away, Byron wondered “if his parents gave him a gift or did him a disservice to make him think all these years that he was something special” (page 278).  Now that he was alone, he didn’t “know anymore if his life has really made that much of a difference to anyone or anything” (page 278).  What insight did this give you into his character in the novel?   Did you think he was making a difference in the world?

11.   Did his repeated experiences of being pulled over while driving for no reason give you insight and any understanding of this situation faced by black males today?

12.   Was Eleanor right to keep the secrets from her husband and children for her entire life?

13.   Did you like the ending of the novel, the way many of the stories were wrapped up and resolved.   For example, what did you think of Mathilda’s story?  Would that have changed anything for Covey if she had known what had happened to her mother and that she had planned to come back for her?

14.   The Black Cake and recipe were the thread running throughout the novel and united several of the characters including Benny and Marble at the end.  Were you tempted to try the recipe?  Does your family have any food traditions?