BLACK CAKE by C Wilkerson, The Ingredients Fall Flat

Charmaine Wilkerson's novel BLACK CAKE aspires to be a lofty read about heritage, identity and familial ties. Set in an unnamed Caribbean Island, the story revolves around Covey. Covey's childhood on the island was idyllic. She spent her days swimming and surfing in the ocean with her beau Gibbs and best friend Bunny. Her mother, an island native and her father, an Asian immigrant, fell in love and had their beloved daughter Covey. As Covey grew into her teens, her father's drinking and gambling became problematic. Covey's mother fled from the island leaving Covey behind with her alcoholic father. The island was ruled by a powerful mob boss to whom Covey's dad owed a great deal of money. Covey was betrothed to this gangster by her father as payment for his debt. At her wedding reception Covey's husband was poisoned. She fled during the commotion. Only her friend Bunny knew where she was hiding and helped her to flee to London where Gibbs had gone a year prior to study. The story becomes a saga of Covey's arduous journey to survive and conceal her identity for fear of being implicated. She was also searching to find Gibbs. Covey's bi-racial ethnicity was folded into this preposterous plot making it dense and senseless.  Intended as a lofty novel which addresses racism, bigotry and cultural identity there is too much air whisked in turning it stiff. Covey finds Gibbs in London and they're reunited. They decide to emigrate to the states settling on the shores of Orange County, CA.  Here they take the names Eleanore and Ben Bennett. The happy couple raise a son, Byron and daughter, Benny all the while keeping their true identities secret from everyone. The burning secret Eleanore kept from everyone, including her husband and children was the birth of her first daughter whom she's spent a lifetime regretting having put up for adoption. Byron and Benny learn of their parents true family history and older half-sister when Eleanore's will is read following her funeral; having predeceased her husband. The novel blends in racial discrimination experienced by Eleanore, Ben and Byron during the pursuit of their careers. Benny share's her homosexuality with her parents causing a major rift in the family which doesn't coalesce with her parent's difficult history. The icing on the cake is the overly indulgent significance of indigenous recipes as with the omnipresent BLACK CAKE. Wilkerson tells us "It was my personal familiarity with a particular Caribbean food, black cake, that led obliquely to this book. It started me thinking about the emotional weight carried by recipes and other familial makers that are handed down from one generation to the next. Then it had me writing about characters who must hold fast to their sense of self when they learn that their lives have been built on a dubious narrative."  There were too many cooky twists and neatly resolved endings that spoiled the book. What should have been a thoughtful novel rising out of a mixing of traditions, fates and migration of cultures was overcooked. It was not in the least credible. The end result was tedious and I'm advising it be sent back to a test kitchen for revising.