Books by Brit Bennett
“The novel’s conceit—how different could your life be if you changed just one significant fact about yourself?—is a question twins often inspire in fiction. An author can treat twinhood as purely an intellectual experiment or, as in this morally compelling novel, use it to make a political point. What kind of country would allow a person’s racial identity to have such a consequential impact on how their life goes? Oh yeah, ours.” Read more...
Helena de Bres, Philosopher
Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half follows the distinct lives of Vignes twins. This saga, which was a major hit internationally, spans the decades between the 1950s and the 1990s but begins in the fictional town of Mallard, Louisiana. Living in a small black community, the twins witness their father’s lynching at a young age and at sixteen run away together—though their lives take two very different directions. Bennett’s coming-of-age novel offers some very human insight into the themes of identity, colourism, and domestic abuse.
From our article Books like Where the Crawdads Sing
Interviews where books by Brit Bennett were recommended
The best books on Twins, recommended by Helena de Bres
Twins are literary gold, but they also open the door to a host of fundamental questions about identity, freedom and even love, says Helena de Bres, a philosopher at Wellesley College and herself an identical twin. She recommends five philosophically evocative books involving twins, from YA romance to John Steinbeck, winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The best books on Interracial Relationships, recommended by Tineka Smith and Alex Court
You might think that books about interracial couples aren’t relevant unless you’re part of one or are close to someone who is, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Mixed Up: Confessions of an Interracial Couple, a fascinating audiobook narrated by Tineka Smith and Alex Court, the husband and wife duo tell the story of their own relationship and, in doing so, give the listener unique insights into racism and racial identity. Here, they recommend their top books on interracial relationships.
