The Vanishing Half

From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.

The twin sisters Vignes will never change. But as adults, everything about their life has changed—their families, their towns, and their racial identities—not only the way they live now, having fled together at the age of sixteen from a tiny, black hamlet in the South. Years later, one sister still resides in the same southern town from which she had attempted to flee with her black kid. Her white spouse is unaware of her history, and the other person covertly assumes she is white. Nonetheless, the twins' destinies are still linked despite being separated by a great distance and an equal number of falsehoods. When the stories of their own daughters collide, what will become of the next generation?

By skillfully interlacing many threads and generations of one family, spanning from the Deep South to California, and the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett creates a work that is both an engrossing and poignant family saga and an insightful examination of the United States' history of "passing." Beyond racial concerns, The Vanishing Half examines how the past continues to define a person's choices, aspirations, and expectations. It also looks at the many contexts and motivations that lead individuals to choose to live in a way that differs from their heritage.