The Vanishing Half

Autor: Brit Bennett

Spanning the 1950s to the 1990s, the story follows the divergent lives of identical twin sisters, Stella and Desiree Vignes, who run away from their small Southern Black community at age sixteen. The twins’ paths split when Stella chooses to live as a white woman, hiding her past from her white husband. Desiree eventually returns to Mallard with her dark-skinned daughter, Jude, after escaping an abusive marriage. In the 1970s and 80s, the story shifts to their daughters. Jude, while attending UCLA, encounters her cousin Kennedy, a privileged white-passing actress who is unaware of her Black heritage.