The Vanishing Half

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What to expect

Praise for Brit Bennett:
'A writer to watch' Washington Post'Bennett allows her characters to follow their worst impulses, and she handles provocative issues with intelligence, empathy and dark humour' New York Times
'A beautifully written, sad and lingering book' Guardian on The Mothers

Critics Review

  • Bennett’s gorgeously written second novel, an ambitious meditation on race and identity, considers the divergent fates of twin sisters, born in the Jim Crow South, after one decides to pass for white. Bennett balances the literary demands of dynamic characterization with the historical and social realities of her subject matter

    New York Times
  • Bennett balances the literary demands of dynamic characterization with the historical and social realities of her subject matter. . . there is such depth, possibility and dramatic propulsion . . a brave foray into vast and difficult terrain. . . .The novel raises thorny questions about the cost of blackness. The answers are complicated

    New York Times Book Review
  • Stunning . . . Bennett pulls it off brilliantly . . . Few novels manage to remain interesting from start to finish, even – maybe especially – the brilliant ones. But . . . Bennett locks readers in and never lets them go

    Los Angeles Times
  • Deeply compelling . . . brilliantly creates a network of characters – singular and vivid . . . There are moments . . . that stun with quiet power . . . The Vanishing Half more than succeeds as a beautifully imagined story about an American family

    USA Today
  • As thought-provoking as it is engrossing

    Oprah magazine
  • Brit Bennett has learned a lot from Toni Morrison – the use of uncanny rural communities in the South/Midwest; twins/doppelgängers to explore the extreme edges of the American Dream; whip-smart dialogue – but her exquisite slowness and patience of tone are unique. A wonderful, cosseting read

    Paul Mendez, author of Rainbow Milk

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