“…absolutely took my breath away.”
–Ishi Robinson, author of Sweetness in the Skin
“…poignant yet hopeful.”
–Nikki May, author of This Motherless Land
One of TIME magazine’s 100 must-read books of 2025
One of PEOPLE magazine’s 15 best books of 2025
A Library Reads Top Pick
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal
Charmaine Wilkerson on NPR’s All Things Considered
More about Good Dirt in this She Reads Interview
Featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, People Magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour Magazine, Woman’s World, AARP, Town and Country, The Christian Science Monitor, Prima Magazine, BookRiot, PopSugar, She Reads, She Writes, Southern Bookseller Review, Hey Rhody, The Everymom, Modern Mrs Darcy, and others
About Good Dirt
From the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake comes an evocative, multigenerational story of a young American woman who tries to escape her painful past.
When Ebby Freeman’s high-profile romance falls apart, the ensuing media attention dredges up memories of a family tragedy nearly 20 years earlier. It was an unthinkable event that thrust young Ebby into the public eye in the worst way.
Nearly twenty years earlier, Ebby’s family were the only African Americans living in a wealthy, coastal neighborhood in New England when a botched robbery attempt changed their lives forever.
To escape old memories and grapple with new wounds, Ebby flees to France, only to find her past catches up with her.
As she struggles to react, Ebby begins to process another loss her family suffered all those years ago—the destruction of a beloved, antique jar brought north by an enslaved ancestor. Ebby soon realizes that the secrets of the handcrafted jar may hold clues to reclaiming her future, despite all.
Good Dirt takes readers from the United States to France and back in time, from the West African shores to the American South. This is a poignant story but also a hopeful one, reminding us that love, friendship and courage can be found at every turn.