Book 7 – “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett

The main characters of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett are twin sisters – Stella and Desiree. They live in a small American town which was originally settled by slaves but where Afro-Americans of a paler complexion are honoured. The twins are bored and still traumatised by events in their childhood when their father was lynched and which they witnessed. They leave home to go to the city, with Desiree thinking that she is taking the lead in their adventure but soon discovering that Stella has some surprises of their own.

Ten years later Desiree has returned home, escaping her abusive partner and bringing her very dark daughter Jude with her. She works in a diner which is far from the clerical job she had in the city. Stella has passed as white, is married to a very wealthy man and has a daughter, Kennedy, who doesn’t known that she has any Black blood. She is bored with the middle-class lifestyle but looking for more stimulation. Then Jude decides to track Kennedy down and get to know her thus challenging everything Stella has worked to prevent.

This is a gripping novel about family relationships, secrets and skin colour in late twentieth century America. Obviously the story is intended to get the reader thinking about race and inequity but the author doesn’t raise these issues in a preachy way and lets them flow from the actions of the characters. The twins are not the only ones hiding their identity in this book and a major theme in the story is the lies we tell ourselves and others about who we really are, and the consequences of living a lie or trying to live the truth as you know it. All the characters have to pay a price for the lives and identities that they choose.

The story is told in short sections with lots of flashbacks and changes of points of view. I thought that it worked very well and I never felt adrift. The author manages the shifts of time particularly well so you sometimes know what is going to happen before the characters do, even if you don’t know exactly how it is going to work out.

The themes of this story could make it a heavy book but it is actually often light-hearted and uplifting without minimising the important issues. I really enjoyed it.