Brit Bennett

Nuggets of observation, but too few of them

This book is slightly curious for being one of those about a black girl, but her blackness is very much in the background of the story, not seemingly all that important to her life story at all. In fact, for...

Shades of Difference

In 1848, Alphonse Decuir, a freed slave, inherited sugarcane fields from his white father. On those acres, Decuir wanted to build [a] town for men like him, who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like...

Secrets and Lies

~ The Mothers. By Brit Bennett ~ This astonishingly assured first novel centers on a black community in a small Southern California town, and specifically, three young people: Nadia Turner, beautiful, smart and unhappy; Luke Sheppard, the pastor’s son; and...

Living Color

~ The Vanishing Half. By Brit Bennett ~ This year, especially, the profound overt and subtle effects of race on life in America have exploded into broad daylight. If it were possible, how many people would choose to be a...