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Charmaine Wilkerson’s first book, “Black Cake,” was written in 2022 and made the New York Times bestseller list.

Wilkerson is a journalist and writer, and has lived in Jamaica, New York, Los Angeles, and now lives in Rome. She has also worked for the United Nations, with a focus on agriculture, hunger and poverty reduction.

The central theme in “Good Dirt” is family tragedy, and how people adjust to it and face the scrutiny of investigation and curiosity.

Ebby Freeman lives in a well-to-do neighborhood on the East Coast, the only Black family in the area. Her family possesses a treasure: a large pottery storage jar made and decorated by slave ancestors.

The children called the jar “Old Mo” after the initials on the jar, and made up stories over the years about the travels of the jar and the people in their family.

Ebby is 10 and her brother Baz is 14 when two masked men enter the house and tussle with Baz over the jar, and Baz is shot. Ebby is upstairs playing hide-and-seek, and she is unable to help him except for calling 911. The family understandably had great difficulty dealing with this tragedy and the ensuing publicity and ended up moving. The men were never caught.

Ebby is now grown and about to get married, when her fiancé Henry does not show up for the ceremony. He totally ghosts her and her family. Again media scrutiny follows, as both families are quite prominent.

Ebby struggles with this rejection and travels alone. Eventually she decides to spend time in rural France helping a friend manage her guest house. Who should show up at the guest house? Her ex and his new girlfriend, who made the reservation.

There is a bit of an attempt at an explanation from Henry, who felt he could not deal with her past trauma and how it affected her. Her father also has a secret he’s been keeping from everyone. Will all this ever be resolved?

Various members of the historical family share their stories a bit, in fascinating vignettes.