Raceless by Georgina Lawton is a memoir about identity and sense of self and family secrets being uncovered.

This book has taken, what is the equivalent of years, so a few months) for me to finish. I’ve realised though, that I think this is the way to go. Read a non-fiction book alongside a fiction book. I really enjoy non-fic and feel like an educated goddess but it’s hard to stay focused on the text for too long.

‘Raceless’ is the story of Georgina Lawton and follows her exploration of her identity, whilst investigating what identity means to wider society.

It’s an interesting one because despite being clearly mixed race (half black and half white in this case), she was led to believe by her family, including her parents, that she was white. It turns out she’s very much not 100% white, and it’s this realization later on in life that provoked a mental breakdown revolving around who she is and how to feel connected to a community that she was isolated from for so long.

I loved this book because of how relatable it was. Tbh, I very much want to be Lawton’s friend, her personality shone through her writing. But it never felt like a diary entry or a colloquial piece of writing. It was incredibly well written and it’s clear that we need to understand the importance of identity and why it’s imperative that we are given the freedom to understand who we are and where we’re from.

I really couldn’t recommend this book enough, and I’m so excited to see what Lawton produces in the future.

#raceless #georginalawton #mixedraceexperience #mixedracebooks #booksaboutrace #booksaboutidentity

Raceless is a well-written book about a sad premise.

We’ve all heard the stories about light-skinned Black people choosing to pass as white in the US. Regardless of their motives and feelings about their own heritage, they at least had some measure of choice, and agency, over their decision. For the author, that was taken from her by decisions her parents made, ostensibly to protect her, but more likely to protect themselves from having difficult conversations.

I am around the same age as the author. I went to a school 10 minutes away from hers (had lots of friends at hers) and went to the same university. From my lived experience, I found it very hard to believe that someone who is “clearly” (to me) mixed race could think they were white - but when that is what you’ve been told for your whole life by the people who love you most in the world, why wouldn’t you believe it?

It is sad to me that the author had to go through the doubt and almost gaslighting experiences of her youth, especially in a city like London - a veritable melting pot where there’s somehow a space for everyone. I am very glad however to hear about the time she is spending with her mother working on repairing the trust between them, and very grateful that she decided to share her experience with a world that is clearly so far from a “post-racial society” that it kept telling a little girl she didn’t look like she fit in her family.

This was a great insight to growing up as mixed race. Similar issues are still around and it’s great that this book attacks these head on.

I found this to be such an interesting memoir as the author explored how she felt knowing her skin colour and hair texture was different to everyone in her family whilst it was completely ignored by them all. Her parents were both white and she wasn't. The author takes us on her journey to discover her roots and it's fascinating as she uncovers her biological parentage. I felt I gained a lot of insight and understanding from this book that helps me further understand how my mixed race cousin may at times feel in a family that is entirely white. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy. This is a really good book, kept me entertained throughout and I would thoroughly recommend to all.

A very interesting read. It was very eye opening, and broke my heart in places. It was very well written, and I highly recommend.

A fabulous story. Georgina Lawton was born to two white parents. Despite her brown skin, her racial identity was never spoken of in her childhood home.

The truth only began to emerge when her beloved father died. Fleeing the shattered pieces of her family life, Georgina went in search of answers - a search that took her around the world, to the DNA testing industry and to talk to others whose identities had been questioned or erased.

How do you come to terms with a family history tangled in deceit? And how do you define yourself after a childhood that denied a crucial part of your identity?

Thanks so much to Little, Brown for letting me read Raceless via NetGalley ✨ Georgina Lawton has an almost unbelievable story to tell: she was raised by two very loving white parents who always claimed she was white, despite her skin colour very clearly showing that wasn't true. In Raceless, Georgina unpacks her childhood, what happened when she finally confronted her family about her blackness, and her years of exploring her identity and coming to terms with what her parents did. It's also an exploration of transracial identities, the myth of race, and the damage that can be done by so-called colour blindness. I really liked Georgina's writing – I will definitely be seeking out more of her travel pieces, the New York chapter was an absolute highlight – and it's a remarkable and illuminating tale, one which I won't say too much about here, because of spoilers and because I'm obviously talking about real people. Although Georgina does have some super interesting thoughts about race and racialisation – and there are some incredible stories in here – personally I thought the memoir parts were stronger than the rest. I usually don't enjoy books that blend memoir and social commentary as much as I anticipate I will; I guess I normally feel like the social commentary is deserving of a whole book by itself, rather than appearing as a side character in a memoir. But I'd still recommend this!

Wow, this was an incredible read. As the title and tagline suggest it discusses family and identity but dives into grief, legacy and how friendships can enlighten our lives. It was a mammoth (and endless) journey for Georgina to take us on as readers and she did it eloquently, I felt every emotion she portrayed with her words.

I particularly loved how she appeared to give us the overall picture of her story while zooming into finer key points, backed up by facts and figures. I was initially horrified by her story but by the end, it’s been unpacked and understanding and forgiveness prevailed. It’s a beautiful and enlightening book.

This was an interesting and thought provoking read that has left me thinking even after finishing it. A book that I would definitely recommend.