Stella and Desiree are African American twin sisters with an unusual characteristic: they are light-skinned and found that they could pass as white.
That was the starting point for our July book club selection, The Vanishing Half written by Brit Bennett. As the novel took us through the lives of the twins over the course of several decades, we expected to be introduced to struggles of racial bias. And yes, that turned out to be true, but we were also presented with challenges of relationships, gender roles, motherhood and more.
It was clearly a good book to encourage conversation, and we did indeed have a lively discussion.
Join us on the fourth Monday in August when we will discuss a very different novel: The Dry, a suspenseful murder mystery by Jane Harper set in backcountry Australia.