The Vanishing Half

 Fiction by Britt Bennet

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Desiree and Stella are identical twins growing up in the 1950's in the small town of Mallard, Louisiana. Mallard is almost like a clan or a village; everyone is kind of related, and everyone is a light-skinned Black person. The girls can't wait to escape this stifling place where everybody is the same, and they run away to New Orleans at age sixteen.

In 1968, Desiree comes back with a dark-skinned daughter and no husband, and we discover that Stella vanished years before. Speculation is that Stella has "crossed over," taking advantage of her light skin in order to "pass" as white. 

This story really made me think about the characters and their choices; both girls are trying to escape from their past and only partially succeeding. It's a very good story.