Good Dirt

Just finished Charmaine Wilkerson's new novel, Good Dirt—an outstanding read! I was drawn into the characters reckoning with their past trauma, embracing a multigenerational saga tied to a meaningful family heirloom, and, perhaps most importantly, learning to love again. This is at once a historical and a contemporary American novel, which resonates with me. It makes me think of stories my mother used to tell about her family and to realize that my family's past has influenced who I am today—something I found myself exploring while writing my own novel, When Trees Fall.

Charmaine has an amazing way of weaving back and forth between the past and the present and between a variety of characters to eventually bring the story to its climax. After her first novel, Black Cake, which I also loved, and now Good Dirt, I'm already looking forward to her next novel.

Janet and I had the incredible opportunity to meet Charmaine for coffee in Rome. Charmaine is so warm and genuine that we instantly felt comfortable with her, like chatting with someone we'd known forever. And she was kind enough to give us a signed copy of Good Dirt, making making this read even more meaningful.