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 solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England, the 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 ago—the 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 history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

This book contains scenes that depict a miscarriage and mentions of sexual assault.

If, like me, you devoured Charmaine Wilkerson’s 2022 novel Black Cake (a 2022 BOTY finalist, no less!), then you already know you’re in for a treat with her latest offering. With her signature insight into the paradoxical elements of life and love, Wilkerson brings Good Dirt’s characters to us in all their raw complexity.

When Henry stands up his fiancée, Ebby, at the altar, he creates a scandal in their Connecticut community. The couple’s impending marriage had already been gossip-fodder: he, a mega-wealthy WASP, and she, a Black woman who as a child witnessed the murder of her brother in a highly-publicized and unsolved armed robbery.

Fleeing her broken heart and the prying eyes of Connecticut’s socialites, Ebby escapes to a cottage in rural France to try to make sense of her past. She is haunted by the memory of a centuries-old family heirloom, a mysterious jar steeped in the history of her ancestors and their escape from slavery. But as she reckons with her near and distant pasts, Henry shows up bringing more questions than answers.

With artful dual narratives focused on Ebby and her ancestors, Good Dirt explores race, class, forgiveness, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and who came before us.