The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half is Brit Bennett's second novel, and after loving it so much I cannot wait to read her debut, The Mothers, which I've also heard so much about. This novel follows identical Black twins Stella and Desiree Vignes, who witnessed the horrific death of their father at the hands of white men when they were very young. The experience left them both deeply scarred and at age sixteen, they make the decision to run away from their hometown of Mallard, a small southern community which is predominantly Black. 

The sisters each choose very different paths - as they are light-skinned and able to pass as white women, Stella decides to grasp the opportunity to escape from her heritage and start afresh, and she adopts a new 'white' persona. Opting for a very different life, Desiree decides to embrace her Black roots and marries a much darker-skinned man, giving birth to an equally dark daughter, Jude. 

Ten years after the twins' escape from Mallard, Desiree returns to the town which is buzzing with speculation about what happened to the infamous sisters - where did Stella disappear to? Even Desiree has not heard from her sister for years, and the woman clearly wants her past to be forgotten, 'passing' as a white woman for all this time. It is not until Desiree's daughter is old enough to fly the nest that she goes in search of Stella, the elusive aunt she has seen pictures of but never met.

This novel spans over four decades and illustrates the lives of the estranged Vignes twins, which end up colliding in unexpected ways. When their daughters meet at random, this sets in motion a series of events which lead the cousins to learn much more about their family history than they bargained for. Stella's secretive life is threatened and she is desperate that her family's ignorance of her past remains intact. Desiree just wants her questions finally answered and to expose the location and deceit of her sister who abandoned her all those years ago. 

The novel brilliantly illuminates the options which are more easily available to 'white' women as opposed to their Black counterparts, and the decision to embrace your past versus hiding it is explored - and each comes with a grave cost. Despite initially disagreeing with Stella's decision to reinvent herself, her loneliness and despair is really heart-wrenching to read, despite her wealth and privilege. Likewise, Desiree may be living a life which is true to herself, but she experiences her own share heartache and prejudice along the way.

This novel was captivating and I loved the interweaving narratives and voices - I always enjoy vast novels which straddle multiple decades and show the bigger picture of a family as well as its nuances, so I would highly recommend this one!