Good Dirt

July 7, 2025 /

Good Dirt ~ Charmaine Wilkerson

Ebony (Ebby) Freeman is 10 years old when she is witness to a home invasion gone wrong, where her 15 year old brother, Baz, is shot and killed. Because her family is one of very few wealthy Black families in a tony Connecticut neighborhood, the crime is the subject of a lot of media attention. Whenever Ebby meets someone new, she waits for that realization of who she is to dawn on them, for the pity and curiosity to make itself known. We first meet her almost 20 years later, when her (white) well to do fiancé ghosts her on their wedding day. 9 months later, she is trying to escape the attention and figure her life out in rural France, spending time managing a friend’s vacation home. The first guest she has to get settled in? Her ex-fiancé and his new girlfriend. Awkward.

The Freeman family’s prize possession is a large stoneware jar that has been handed down for generations, originally crafted by an enslaved man in South Carolina, and brought to Connecticut by their ancestor. The jar, nicknamed ‘Old Mo’, is more than a possession, they think of it like a member of their family. Old Mo’s history is entwined with that of the Freemans, and when the jar is shattered during the invasion that killed Baz, they feel it as a double loss.

Good Dirt alternates between Old Mo’s and Ebby’s stories, and is told from the points of view of various characters, including Ebby’s ex-fiancé, Henry, his girlfriend Avery, Ebby’s parents, Ed and So, along with Old Mo’s artisan creator, his ancestors, and his progeny.

I loved this book, the author ties the stories together with layers and connections that I did not expect. Now I want to read her debut novel, Black Cake. Highly recommended.

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