The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett is an #OwnVoices work that explores the idea of colorism while telling the story of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella Vignes, and their children, Jude and Kennedy, across the decades since the mid-twentieth century. This coming of age story is set in a rural area of Louisiana called Mallard, originally founded in 1848 on the sugarcane fields a former slave had inherited from his white father. Bennett describes it as a town for those “who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like Negroes.” She does an excellent job of conveying the oppressive small town atmosphere and “everyone’s obsession with lightness.”

As sixteen year-olds, the twins (one practical, one impulsive) run away in 1954, moving to New Orleans where one eventually deserts the other, later musing, “Why wouldn’t you be white if you could be? Remaining what you were or becoming something new, it was all a choice, any way you looked at it.” That decision leads to estrangement, anger, and loneliness. Secrets and lies abound, especially after the cousins Jude and Kennedy meet by chance while college students themselves. Yet, there are also elements of acceptance (both in the mother-daughter pairs and in various romantic relationships) and hard lessons to be learned: “There are many ways to be alienated from someone, few to actually belong.” Like Bennett’s debut novel (The Mothers), THE VANISHING HALF is likely to be an award-winner; it received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus and is a LibraryReads selection for June. For interested book groups, Penguin has published a Reader’s Guide. Definitely recommended.