Seasonal Vibe: Summer
Travel Location: South Carolina, Massachusetts, France
Historical Time: 2019, flashbacks to 1800’s and 1900’s
Genres: Literary, Contemporary, Historical, Multiple Timelines
Read: May 19-20, 2025
Format: Switched between Book of the Month hardcover and Audiobook
352 pages • Short Chapters • 🎧 Great Audiobook
Good Dirt deals with serious topics, but is hopeful and easy to read. The “good dirt” was in relation to literally the land where you live, but also clay for making pottery. I enjoyed the stories of each ancestor, as well as the contemporary storyline which was a story about figuring out who you are as an adult. The chapters were short, making it easy to read “just one more chapter”.
Good Dirt is the multi-generational story of an African American family going back hundreds of years and up to 2019. This American history begins with a woman being kidnapped from her village, and tells the story of generations of enslaved people and how they became “Freemans”. The jar made by one of the ancestors aids in the oral storytelling tradition of their family.
I got this book from my Book of the Month box. If you want to join for $5, here’s my Book of the Month referral link. No other affiliate links are used.
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
StoryGraph • GoodReads • Book of the Month • Overdrive