Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel “Black Cake,” published in 2022 spent a month on the “New York Times” bestseller list and was a Read With Jenna Book Club pick. Her second novel, “Good Dirt” tells an engaging story about a wealthy black family and the joys and tragedies that connect them to their past and shape their future.
I read this book last spring and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until I heard a story on NPR this fall that I appreciated the story even more. The NPR piece discussed how museums around the world are researching the origins of items in their collections. Items acquired unethically, such as treasures stolen by the Nazis or looted Indigenous works, are being restored to rightful owners wherever possible.
One example involved the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston returning two monumental stoneware vessels to the descendants of the enslaved man who made them.
The title of a novel often carries multiple meanings. “Good Dirt,” refers both to the special soil used in pottery-making and the juicy gossip spreads through a community after a very public tragedy or scandal.
Ebby Freeman, is the daughter of a successful and highly-respected New England family. Her childhood was interrupted and severely impacted when she witnesses the murder of her brother and the shattering of a treasured family heirloom during a home invasion. The crime remains unsolved.
Years later, now a successful young woman, Ebby and her family are blindsided by a less violent, but still heartbreaking incident which catapults them back into the news cycle. In an effort to remove herself from situation and rise above the dirt, Ebby leaves the country for some quiet time at a friend’s place in France.
This get-away allows her space and time to process not only this most recent trauma but also the tragic loss of her brother and explore how the earthenware jar made by her enslaved ancestor might be related to the murder.
This novel is a romance—but it is also much more. “Good Dirt” is available at local libraries.
