Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson is half historical fiction and half modern-day fiction. Good Dirt like Black Cake connects time and family with an object. In Good Dirt the object is a clay pot that is 200 years old. The book’s main theme of Good Dirt is what’s fractured can be repaired. A lot of the characters in the book are fractured and dealing with trauma. Ebby, Soh, and Ed are all dealing with the death of Baz 19 years ago. The death of Baz remains unsolved. The novel is not about solving the murder of Baz, though at the end we know who was responsible. The story is told through 12 perspectives that take place throughout time. The pacing of the book is great thanks to the changing narratives. Wilkerson does a good job on the narratives, I never got confused about whose perspective I was reading. The book consists of three main timelines, the history of the jar, the death of Baz, and modern-day 2022. The history of the jar is very interesting and the best part of the book. The murder of Baz was good and very compelling. It was the modern-day storyline I hated until the end. We spend the most time in the modern day and I found it the least compelling. I found this book very mixed and full of odd choices. Half of the book takes place in France and we get very few descriptions of France. There’s a subplot about a murder in France. Only a woman’s head is found. The suspect drove a white SUV. Then the murder storyline is completely dropped. The book went out of its way to not villainize any character, even the ones who should be. I think Good Dirt had some highs and lows, there’s a lot to dissect and discuss. I think this book will be a good book club read for those reasons. I had a publisher reach out to me from Ballantine Books and give me a copy on NetGalley. Good Dirt was published on January 28, 2025.

Plot Summary: In the early 2000s Baz, 15, was shot and killed. He died next to a family heirloom that broke in the process. The heirloom was a clay jar made from slave descendants 200 years ago. The killing made national headlines as he was a black teenager living in a white neighborhood with no crime. Ebby his sister was in the house and was photographed with tears and blood on her face. 19 years later, Ebby holds a picture of Baz while wearing her wedding gown. Her husband-to-be, Henry, does not show up to the altar. Because she’s semi-famous this makes news. Ebby just wants to hide away. A year later she’s in France managing a property of one of her friends from college. She meets the couple staying at the property she manages next door to where she’s staying. The couple is comprised of Henry Ebby’s ex-finance and Avery his new girlfriend. Henry has never spoken to her since that day. He has a secret involving her brother. This secret kept him from marrying her.

What I Liked: The history of the jar is very interesting and compelling. I loved the history of the artifact and how so many people added little touches to it. I loved how the jar was used to pass secret messages to the slaves. I was happy that the secret message on the jar paid off. The book teased the secret message so much and it was a great message that offered resistance and hope. The modern-day story was the weakest but I do like how that story ended. I liked the murder scene and everything that was revealed about Baz, Ebby, and the killer. I liked the history of Ed’s mother’s house. What the house did after slavery and how it was able to grow room by room. The style of this story matched Black Cake. It is effective for both stories. I like that the Jar is called Old Mo after the jars creator Moses.

What I Disliked: The murder in France was just bizarre, where only a head was found. I laughed as Avery and Ebby both discussed to themselves if Henry was a serial killer. The murder has too many details for it to be random. Ebby meets Robert, the French man, right after this I’m like is he the murderer this novel took a turn. and then everything is dropped and it is never mentioned again. Is decapitation frequent in France? I could not stand Avery. Her chapters didn’t add anything. It would have been much better if Ebby discovered all the information about her. They could have bonded more over Henry missing. I wanted Ebby to have more fun in France, and see some sights. I hated that the killer of Baz was never caught. We found out the mastermind. Still, we never discovered the doer of the crime. Henry’s reason for not going through with the marriage was weak. Ebby was boring as a lead character, I think Soh would have been a better character.

Book Recommendation: I wanted to like Good Dirt as much as I liked Black Cake but did not. The history is still excellent in the book and the best part. I want Wilkerson to do a straight historical fiction. Despite my mixed review of this work, I will recommend this for a book club. I checked out some reviews and I seem to be in the minority for not liking this book. I think Wilkerson is a good writer. The prose for this book is very good.

Rating: Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson 3.1 out of 5.