Brit Bennett Set Her Novel 50 Years Ago — She Didn’t Expect It To Be ‘Timely’

Brit Bennett says it has been "surreal" to publish her post-civil rights era book this week. She is also the author of The Mothers.

The Vanishing Half is about African American twins — one lives as a black woman, the other “passes” as white. Passing is “an act of self-creation and also an act of self-destruction,” Bennett says.

(Image credit: Emma Trim/Riverhead Books )

The Vanishing Half is about African American twins — one lives as a black woman, the other “passes” as white. Passing is “an act of self-creation and also an act of self-destruction,” Bennett says.