Charmaine Wilkerson Unearths a Family’s Tragedy and Resilience in “Good Dirt” (Exclusive)

“I'm fascinated by the things that are universal, that leave a stamp on our identities,” the author tells PEOPLE of the novel, out Jan. 28

Fans of Charmaine Wilkerson, author of the 2022 bestselling novel Black Cake, will be delighted to see the writer returning to familiar themes in her new book, Good Dirt.

The novel, out Jan. 28 from Ballantine Books, centers on Ebby Freeman, a member of one of few Black families living in an exclusive New England community. As a child, her family was thrust into the spotlight when Ebby’s brother, Baz, was killed during a home invasion — and one of the family’s priceless heirlooms, a handmade, centuries-old jar, was also destroyed.

For Wilkerson, Ebby’s story was inspired by her former life as a reporter at a local news station in Los Angeles. 

“I'd walk into someone's home on the worst day of their life,” the author tells PEOPLE. “They had lost someone or something terrible had happened. And I would sit and talk with them, and I'd have a camera crew with me, and after that conversation, their very personal pain would be news.”

“I would go home, wondering, ‘How will they manage to do more than just survive, but to actually thrive and move forward in life, with the pain that they're carrying when there's a public gaze now?’”

This question fueled Good Dirt, as readers follow Ebby into adulthood, navigating the public deterioration of her romantic life alongside the lingering effects of her past trauma. Playing to the author’s love of historical elements, the novel also features the voices of the Freeman family’s ancestors, including Moses, the enslaved relative who crafted the stoneware jar.

Wilkerson read extensively about the Black Jacks, enslaved Black seamen who manned ships during the 18th and 19th centuries as research.

“We think of Black people on ships because they were forced to come over. They were kidnapped, they were shipped, they were merchandise,” Wilkerson says. “We don't think of Black people walking onto ships with goods, adjusting sails or working on deck, cooking, and in some cases, believe it or not, actually serving as captains of ships.”

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The author also learned about the mass production of stoneware by both enslaved and free Back people in the American South, where dirt was "especially good” for making pottery — hence her novel's title. Though these individuals were banned from learning to read and write, they were still able to sign their work.

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“When you write fiction, even when you invent a character, you research and create an imaginary scenario that often [gets] closer to the truth about what is happening in our world and the questions we have and the things that perplex us,” Wilkerson says. It’s true of Ebby, whose journey toward healing and being “forced to take a look at how she’s been trying to live,” was particularly important for Wilkerson to explore.

“[Characters in the book] may think they have all the dirt on her, but they don't really know the half of who she is,” Wilkerson says. “And that's true of anyone. We have an image of people, so our identities are made up of who we feel ourselves to be and what is imposed upon us.”

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“People think that when you're a person of color, if you're writing about identity, it's got to be about the way you look or where your parents came from or the language you speak,” she adds. “But actually, I'm fascinated by the things that are universal, that leave a stamp on our identities whoever we are.”

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It’s a thread Wilkerson weaved into Black Cake, about two adult siblings who uncover their mother’s past in the Caribbean when she leaves them a voice recording, as well as a family cake recipe, after her death.

“I love the idea of everyday things that become priceless to us,” Wilkerson says. “They mark our identities, they carry stories.”

And she wasn't the only one. Black Cake was chosen as a Read with Jenna book club selection upon its release, and was adapted for television by Hulu in 2023. For the self-described “late bloomer” to writing fiction, Wilkerson says it’s been a rewarding shift from her previous career as a journalist.

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“Everything [else] that I've done, there's always been parameters,” Wilkerson says. “You either have a certain amount of space to fill with a story, you have to speak to a number of people to make the story reasonable. If you're doing news, you know you need to deliver it by a certain hour, you only have so much time. Fiction is the only place in which I start out just letting my mind wander, and it always comes down to something that is important to me.”

Wilkerson also notes that the success of her debut novel has prepared her in other ways for the publication of her second book.

“It gave me a kind of confidence that was reassuring,” Wilkerson says. “Not a confidence that says, ‘Oh, whatever I write will work,’ but that it's okay to write in the way that things come to you. You have to trust your voice, you have to trust that you want to put something on the page that maybe people haven't seen before, and that it will work out.”

Good Dirt is now available, wherever books are sold.