Series ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
Black Cake: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel
Charmaine Wilkerson · 2022
🎙 Narrated by Lynnette R. Freeman and Simone McIntyre
77/100
👍 Worth It
A rich, genuinely twisty family-secrets saga that earns its bestseller status and its Hulu adaptation, tracing one woman's hidden past from 1960s Jamaica to present-day California through a voice recording her estranged kids have to reckon with. It does dig into abuse and misogyny as part of that history, so know that going in, but the dual narration by Lynnette R. Freeman and Simone McIntyre is genuinely praised for nailing the different regional voices — the listen is worth it.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: explores abuse and misogyny within the family history being uncovered; exact severity not fully itemized in sources. We still scored it 77; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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🎙 Narration: excellent Dual narration by Lynnette R. Freeman and Simone McIntyre for Random House Audio, praised for distinctly voicing the book's Caribbean, London, and Southern California registers.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety60
Substance / usefulness82
Craft & writing80
Originality78
Evidence & accuracy70
Hype vs delivers85
Age-fit62
Human-eye read78
Penny’s verdict77
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