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The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, was both an instant bestseller and one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of 2020. The novel tells the story of a pair of beautiful Black twins born and brought up in the fictional town of Mallard, which prides itself on a population interbred through generations to be so light-skinned they can easily pass for white. After their father is lynched, the twins are raised by their mother, a house cleaner for a wealthy white family. Although physically identical, Desiree and Stella are radically different personalities. Studious Stella wants to attend college; Desiree dreams of becoming an actress. The two teenage girls run away to New Orleans, but soon separate, and their lives take dramatically divergent paths. As Bennett writes, ”Stella became white and Desiree married the darkest man she could find.”

Bennett weaves a compellingly told and timely tale about the choice of racial passing in what remains a systemically racist world. She is interviewed by writer Bliss Broyard, daughter of the noted literary critic Anatole Broyard, who learned shortly before her father’s death that he had passed for white, which she wrote about in her 2007 memoir, One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life—A Story of Race and Family Secrets, described by The New York Times as “brave, uncompromising and powerful.”

This free online program is presented by The National Arts Club.











When: Thu., Mar. 11, 2021 at 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: The National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park S.
212-475-3424
Price: Free, donation suggested
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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, was both an instant bestseller and one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of 2020. The novel tells the story of a pair of beautiful Black twins born and brought up in the fictional town of Mallard, which prides itself on a population interbred through generations to be so light-skinned they can easily pass for white. After their father is lynched, the twins are raised by their mother, a house cleaner for a wealthy white family. Although physically identical, Desiree and Stella are radically different personalities. Studious Stella wants to attend college; Desiree dreams of becoming an actress. The two teenage girls run away to New Orleans, but soon separate, and their lives take dramatically divergent paths. As Bennett writes, ”Stella became white and Desiree married the darkest man she could find.”

Bennett weaves a compellingly told and timely tale about the choice of racial passing in what remains a systemically racist world. She is interviewed by writer Bliss Broyard, daughter of the noted literary critic Anatole Broyard, who learned shortly before her father’s death that he had passed for white, which she wrote about in her 2007 memoir, One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life—A Story of Race and Family Secrets, described by The New York Times as “brave, uncompromising and powerful.”

This free online program is presented by The National Arts Club.

Buy tickets/get more info now