Okay, I’m going to be honest and say that this will be one of those books that I will cherish forever! Woah...there I said it.🤩
It’s a book that challenges and probes into difficult and important issues with such beauty and emotion that you can’t help but be swept up in its brilliance. I loved it!

The story focuses on twins Stella and Desiree who grow up in a small black community in the Deep South, where people believe that having lighter skin means a better life. They run away together at sixteen to New Orleans and part ways. The story follows each sisters journey through the years and you see how their choices in life have taken them on very different paths. Very different! It’s told from the perspectives of the sisters as well as their daughters Kennedy and Jude, and I felt this gave shape and substance to the plot. Racial identity is at the centre of this book, it ripples through the generations and narratives, from 1950 to 1990s and there are lots of twists to the tale. It certainly hones in on racism but also community, class, sexual identity, abuse, how the past shapes our future desires and examines relationships in every form. It’s very well written with intriguing characters and a storyline that captivated me from the start. I couldn’t put it down! I enjoyed every moment of reading this book and when it finished I genuinely felt sad that it had to come to an end.😭

THE VANISHING HALF is wise, powerful and thought provoking; an incredible book to get lost in. It has been selected as one of the Spring titles for #R2Bookclub with Jo Whiley. Not surprised at all folks.

I LOVED IT SO READ IT! 🙏

A poignant story of how racism can affect lives in the 60s and 70s in America.

This story revolves around identical twins, Stella and Desiree Vignes, living in a tiny town in America and how their lives go on totally different paths when they run away from home.

The small town of Mallard is unusual in that some of the coloured people are so pale that it is impossible to distinguish them from a white person. In this day and age this should make no difference to anyone. However, in the 1960s in America racial prejudice was rife and this book is a brilliant example of how this can affect people’s lives.

Stella has always yearned for the prestige and benefits being a white person can bring and when she gets a job as a secretary by pretending to be white and falls in love with her boss, Blake, she is determined that no one will ever know her origins. She marries Blake, has a daughter, Kennedy, who is blond with violet eyes and they are happily living in Los Angeles. In order to pursue her dream, she had left her twin in New Orleans without a goodbye and with no way of her being traced.

Desiree is totally distraught by the disappearance of her sister as they were almost joined together as identical twins often are and tries desperately to find her. She has also married but to a violent man and with her daughter, Jude, who is black, runs away back to Mallard to live again with her mother.

Ten years later, Jude is a talented athlete and wins a scholarship to UCLA in Los Angeles where quite by chance she discovers Stella and her daughter. We are drawn into the world of both sisters and the cousins and how their lives are so different purely because of the colour or perceived colour of their skin.

This was a fascinating story which I thoroughly enjoyed and it opened my eyes a little more regarding the terrible racism that existed then and sadly, in some cases, still does today. I awarded this book 4 stars purely because I found the ending a little unsatisfactory with some issues left unresolved but it is well worth a read.

Dexter

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review

I loved this book and raced through it. This is a novel about the hallowed bonds between twins and the realities of life as an African American woman during the 20th century. It's a unique take on racial issues and the evolution of racism and inequality in America. Though it touches on some dark themes it is also a very touching tale of the familial bonds that connect us. This is perfect for fans of The Help.

Its prose as restrained as it is lyrical, The Vanishing Half is a profoundly moving novel about identity and belonging, a powerful reminder that race is, after all, only a question of perception: not only how others perceive you, but also how you perceive yourself.

A story that covers three generations of a family. It's a family story which covers times in the Deep South in the 195o's to California in the present day. How upbringing and circumstances from the past influence life in the current time.
Sisters leaving home together at 16, leading very different, separate lives.

What will happen when their own daughters' story lives intersect?

Wow what a book. Beautifully constructed and beautifully written. I was hooked right from the start and i couldn’t put it down .....finished it last night in a power cut by candlelight!!
I’m sure these characters will stay with me for a while.....and I wonder if there willl be a follow up of the next generation?

For me, this book took a while to get going, but about half way through, I really loved it. The chopping back and forth between characters and time frames was interesting as it really allowed the reader to understand each character’s perspectives. I love books like this that really make me think.. naturally, being white, I had no idea of the concept of ‘passing over’ as outlined in this story. It has helped to open my eyes and I look forward to reading more literature such as this.

I asked for a copy of this novel because I remember other people really enjoying Bennett’s first book and, I won’t lie, the cover intrigued me. I am so, so delighted that I requested to read this because this is the first book of 2020 that I have devoured. I loved it.

What I particularly appreciate, especially in light of other reading, is that this is a book that balances beautiful, interesting prose with a genuinely compelling plot and well fleshed characters. The use of shifting time and perspectives throughout kept the novel moving forward and building towards revelation and grace.

It’s a novel about colourism, about families and trauma, and more than anything about love and the self. The love in this book is so tender, so aware of the things people bring of their lives to relationships and the ways this shapes the navigation of those relationships.

It somehow strikes the balance of being a historical novel that feels modern, without feeling ahistorical. It opens up the lives of people who have always existed, but existed in different ways. I think I was most moved by the Jude’s sections, by her yearning to belong and to be loved, but this is also because her narrative helps to bring the different elements together.

I read this book in two sittings after a much more unsatisfactory read (one whose review I have been agonising over) and it was just such a comfort to read a book where the people felt like people. I felt I learned who they were, grew with them, felt their despair and their hunger and their shame. That this characterisation did not sacrifice a convincing and carefully unravelled plot, nor did it detract from mood, completely assured me of Bennett’s skill as a novelist.

Additionally, it is skillful to write about really difficult things with clarity and gentleness. Not gentle as in softening the blow, but being gentle to the characters who are hurt by so much of the world they live in. It explores race not just through the ways in which racism functions to limit and curtail the lives of people of colour, but also the ways that colourism moves within communities. It explores abandonment, shame and abuse, but without ever feeling heavy-handed. That’s a difficult balance to strike, to sit between entertainment and real human consideration.

It’s simply a very good, well-crafted, considered novel: an enjoyable, moving read, with plenty of style and heart. One I will pressing on people when its published!

The story of the Vignes twins contains everything. Secrets, lies, love, loss and lots of really interesting thoughts around identity and finding yourself. I love a book with strong female characters and this books certainly has them. They may not all be characters you like, you may question some of their decisions, but the characters are so vibrant and lifelike. This is an excellent and though provoking book that will stay with you a long time after the final page.

This was a well-rounded book and interesting and well imagine story regarding two sisters and passing. I found it was well thought out in terms of two lives the different women led and it really made you question identity and what it's like to shed your past. However I felt the book lacked something, what we read on the blurb is entirely what happens in the books. There is no twist or something to keep you captivated, it is pretty obvious that at some point we would hear from the missing twin and that she may even return home, so I thought this was pretty weak plot-wise. Even as a story of getting by in the world however you can, I felt it was lacking, it was simply put one twin pretending to be another and getting away with it. I think I would have liked to have heard from Kennedy and her mother, perhaps with a Kennedy having kids and dealing with the repercussions of her mother's choice in this regard. Regardless this was an easy and enjoyable read, but I can't help but think this story could have been great, instead it's just okay.

Although it took me a minute to get into it, I have not been able to stop reading for the past two days. The plot is brilliant and I think it would make a great TV series so I hope someone buys the rights ASAP. The characters are so well developed and consistent, which is something I have not find lately. The main themes are family relationships, race, gender and how hard is to escape our past and sustain lies, especially towards the ones we love. I really recommend this book. The storyline between Jude and Reese was my favourite. Thanks so much for the advance copy!

Although the novel brings us to the brink of the Millennium, The Vanishing Half feels like a mythical tale. Two identical pale twins of African-American heritage live in a town called Mallard in Louisiana. Mallard is a town established and built only for those African-Americans with the fairest of skins. They don’t want anyone darker skinned living in their town or marrying into their families.

The pale twins, Desiree and Stella watch their father being lynched and killed by white men when they are still only very young. This violence, without them realising it, seems to push them in different directions and whilst they flee Mallard together they do it for very different reasons.

They run off to New Orleans where Desiree finds a dark-skinned man who beats her and gives her a child whose skin is so dark it is described as blue black. Stella becomes a secretary by omitting to tick the coloured box on her application form. The twins have such pale skin that Stella just needs to act white to be white.

While Desiree comes back to Mallard, moves back in with her Mama and lives there with her dark daughter whom everyone in Mallard shuns; Stella disappears in more ways than one. She loses her colour and her family and becomes a white girl, a white woman, wife and mother whose daughter is so pale her eyes are almost violet, her hair a shocking natural blonde.

The Vanishing Half is the tale of what happens to these twins and their daughters. It is a compelling exploration of race, identity and opportunity in 20th Century American South.

This book is exceptionally good. Along with Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, this is potentially my top read of the year and one I will be buying for everyone as soon as I see it in print. Brit Bennett is clearly a unique talent and as soon as I finish this one, I will be going back through everything else they've ever written. Entirely compelling, brilliantly paced and not easy to put down.

What a fabulous book. A great story, brilliant characters and interesting dilemmas made it an absolute pleasure to read. I have already purchased Brit Bennett's other book as I enjoyed this so much and will be recommending it to one and all. It would make a great Book Club choice, starting discussions on the lengths that we all go to to 'fit in' and the costs of reinvention.
Go out and get it today!

What a fantastic read! Brit Bennett is a beautifully talented author and this was an exceptional story. So many dramatic twists and turns that only a writer like Bennett could execute.

This intriguing and well-written novel is about twins - Desiree and Stella Vignes - who leave their small town life for New Orleans and become estranged.
I don’t wasn’t to give any plot spoilers, so suffice to say that their lives pan out very differently, including their class and even the racial identities they choose.
This novel illustrates that you can reinvent yourself, but it’s hard to leave the past behind you and it exacts a heavy toll.
The characters really grew on me and I’m now mourning them!
I haven’t read anything quite like this: intriguing premise, assured writing, a novel that engages you emotionally.
Highly recommended.

This is my first Brit Bennett book that I have read, but will definitely not be my last.

Stella and Desiree are twins bought up in a close knit black community in Louisiana in the 1950’s. They run away together at the age of 16, but one sister will leave the other behind after she accepts a job offer and takes the opportunity to pass herself of as white, whilst the other sister marries a black man and returns to her childhood home, where her daughter is an outcast for being so dark in a lighter skinned community.

The story is told from the points of view of Desiree and Stella and their daughters. we go back in time to when they run away to the present time.

Reading this book gave me much to think about, I couldn’t imagine being bought up one way and then passing you’re self of as white, having to lie to you’re husband and child and forever worrying that you’re secret will be revealed.

A must read book that will capture you’re heart and keep it long after reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

The Vanishing Half is a tantalising slow-burner of a novel, an intelligent exploration of race, class and identity.

The opening premise is a little flimsy, and it is only when the setting moves beyond the claustrophobic small town of Mallard that it evolves into something brilliant. The characters are believable and intriguingly developed, all on their own journey of self-discovery. While the novel deals with some weighty themes of social identity, tied up with race, class and sexuality, Bennett retains an acute awareness of the role of personal, emotional identity in this interplay. Ultimately, the characters are all searching for their own freedom in a segregated society, and they do not all end up taking the same road.

The Vanishing Half is a thought-provoking and compelling family saga - a story that will play on my mind for some time.

Twin sisters Stella and Desiree Vignes grow up in Mallard, Louisiana, the great, great, great granddaughters of the ex slave founder of the settlement. Mallard is unique in that those that live there pride themselves on the lightness of their skin - they are ‘beige’ and do not marry ‘dark’. However, despite this the girls can expect to do the same job as their mama , to clean the houses of white folk, their lives are mapped out as domestic workers. The twins have other ideas. One night in 1954 they slip away and settle in New Orleans where their lives follow very different trajectories. Fourteen years later in 1968, Desiree returns to Mallard with her young daughter Jade who is so dark she is ‘blue black’. Stella meanwhile escapes into a white world while her twin returns to her roots. The story is told through forty years of change from the perspectives of the twins and their daughters Jade and Kennedy.

This is such a well written and powerful story although not always a comfortable read especially with the racism that the characters endure. I think it’s fair to say that both sisters are damaged by the horror of what happened to their father. The characters are well developed, their feelings echo across the pages and resonate especially the isolation and loneliness particularly of Stella. It captures the historical period well, placing the sisters stories and experiences in the context of the times. The book deals with many issues especially race, class and identity. This applies to Stella as she tries to eradicate the past and reinvent herself but other characters seek to find their true individuality and sexuality. This is a slow burner which is superbly told and a book that will linger in the memory.

With thanks to NetGalley and particularly to Little, Brown Group for the ARC.

A black family , lightly skinned and living in an exclusive lightly coloured community where paleness of skin was protected and prized amongst all gifts. Identical twins in appearance, complete opposites in nature, one widely attracted to her black roots, the other drawn to the impossible objective of living the life of a white person, with all the freedom and respect she felt it would guarantee. . Two lives beating as one heart, yet yearning for a separate life and identity only achievable by escaping their background and history. One gives birth to a daughter, coal black and given her mothers total love and devotion from her first breath. The other to a child as white as the driven snow. born to a mother terrified by the weight of lies surrounding her ancestors.. Both children products of their mothers’ violent childhood and their own experiences of discrimination and poverty in a generation of racial segregation. As the story unfolds, we the reader share the struggles and heartbreak the girls endure to find happiness and contentment in the fragmented life of each mothers unhappiness, Each mother always only ever half of their whole.as lost twins. Beautifully written, a love story of a broken family lightly balanced on a background cleverly researched and drawing upon the history of racial segregation and poverty in a divided America. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC of a well written and deeply moving 5 star read. I loved it.