Good Dirt: A Novel

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When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solvedand because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New Englandthe case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that's exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years agothe stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family's historyit might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.

Reviews

A remarkable exploration of family bonds, grief, heartbreak, friendship, and the deep scars of slavery and racism, Good Dirt seamlessly links the tragedies and resilience of our past in a way that is both brilliantly resonant and heartbreakingly beautiful. Wilkersons prose is succinct yet richly evocative, masterfully delving into the minds and motivations of her characters and delivering a narrative that lingers long after the final page . . . This novel solidifies Wilkersons place as one of the great multi-generational storytellers of our time.Abi Dar, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice

Charmaine Wilkerson is a writer of extraordinary gifts. She can capture the arc of a family story like none other. In Good Dirt, she does it again. This kaleidoscopic novel of love, loss, and triumph will sit with you for a long time after you finish the last page.Dolen Perkins-Valdez, bestselling author of Take My Hand

Author Bio

Charmaine Wilkerson is the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, which was named a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick and adapted as a Hulu streaming series by Oprah Winfrey and Kapital Entertainment. She is an American writer who has lived in Jamaica and Italy. A graduate of Barnard College and Stanford University, she is a former journalist whose award-winning short fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies.