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.

‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett is an astonishing novel. Reminiscent of early Toni Morrison, Bennett writes beautifully in this tale of race, escapism, identity and proximity. A joyous read, and a mesmerising story. A masterpiece!

I was not a fan of Bennett's "The Mothers" so my expectations going into "The Vanishing Half" weren't high. However, this novel is an absolute gem; a riveting, slow-burning novel about the infinite ways one dreams of rewriting their life by erasing their past. "The Vanishing Half" reminded me of Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"; both books deal with the theme of discrimination within the black community itself, about the fact that lighter skin color is idealized and darkness looked down upon, a theme that hammers in the devastating lack of community solidarity.

The story of twin sisters who left home at sixteen and lead very different lives.
This family sage is told over several decades from the 1960’s.
Unfortunately I found this story hard to get into and it didn’t hold my interest.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

So this might actually be the best book I’ve read this year. A contemporary voice giving life to a multi generational tale of race, gender, family, community and identity. Set in the Deep South and beyond, this tale of twin sisters and their families will long linger in my heart. Loved it

This was a carefully crafted novel; a cleverly worked out plot with much depth of character. The twins Stella and Desiree, who run away from their small southern coloured town go their separate ways - one marries a very dark man and has a black child, the other masquerades as white, marries her boss and has a white daughter. Their daughter meet accidentally and their own stories are then followed. There are some lovely relationships - particularly Desiree and Early, and Reese and Jude. The racial politics are quite shocking to the UK reader, but relationships are the main point of this story and the overall tone is optimistic.

This book is very well written and I'm sure it will appeal to some readers. Unfortunately it was not the book for me and I found it hard to get in to. As a result I didn't finish it which is a shame. I would still urge you to read it as it is a book which may suit you. I liked the writing style and this experience would not deter me from trying another book by this writer.

An involving read that covered some difficult prejudices. The characters were so well drawn they came to life as I read. I felt sympathy for all their viewpoints.

Wow this book is fantastic. I started it and thought it was a bit slow but the book unravelled itself it is beautifully written, there are so many different layers to this book. It was incredible.

I have a long standing interest in the free people of colour of Louisiana and other similar pockets of Black history. I think that as a little girl absorbed into a much larger step family I sought out ways to understand my differences with my siblings, being too young to understand the offhand comments made about my skin, my hair and even my attitude.
Brit Bennett offers an unflinching account of colourism in the Black community, the turning on our own to shame and ridicule. But I didn't find The Vanishing Half to be only about that in particular, nor about the many other social issues, some surprising, that emerged as the story unfolded. The success of this book, and why I feel certain it will shoot to the top of Must Read lists, lies in how every character is so richly realised that any reader can empathise. I understand Stella, and Desiree, Jude, Kennedy and even Reese. Not because I have the exact same experiences, but because we all hide things, and give up parts of ourselves. We hurt, and those experiences of the past inform our futures. We all make difficult decisions and try to have good intentions. It takes such skill, to write relatable characters that strangers can be passionate about but somehow, this is a masterful success.

DNF. I know its strange tof offer up a 3* rating for a book I couldn't get through, but i can appreciate the story, and the writing, and the fact that many will love it. I just didn't. And couldn't get through it, I didn't connect with the characters, nor could i get on board with the (crucial to the story line, but still so heavy handed) signifying factor of every character.

This was an excellent drama that kept me literally entranced. The character depiction was on point and the story was fascinating and well developed.