THE VANISHING HALF

Narrator Shayna Small’s affecting performance brings listeners into the complex world of African-American identical twins. As teens in the postwar years in Louisiana, they run away from home, choosing two very different paths. Stella, taking advantage of a white businessman’s attentions, opts to pass as white, erasing all connections to her birth family. Desiree, however, marries the Blackest man she can, eventually returning home to live with her mother. Small’s soft voice and measured delivery allow listeners the space to absorb the many consequences of the twins’ choices, including Stella’s constant fear of discovery, Desiree’s burdens of responsibility, and their trickle-down effects on their own daughters. This audiobook about the search for self-identity as underscored by race, socioeconomics, and family will prompt timely conversation. C.B.L. 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2020]