The Vanishing Half cover art

The Vanishing Half

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Vanishing Half

By: Brit Bennett
Narrated by: Shayna Small
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Sunday Times bestseller

Longlisted for the Women's Prize 2021

Longlisted for the Orwell Prize

Longlisted for the National Book Award

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' story lines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

©2020 Brit Bennett (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK
African American Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Thought-Provoking
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Mothers cover art
The Arsonists' City cover art
The Daughters of Erietown cover art
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club) cover art
The Poisonwood Bible cover art
The Pecan Man cover art
The Girls with No Names cover art
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self cover art
Broken Silence cover art
Stella cover art
The Murmur of Bees cover art
The Personal Librarian cover art
When We Believed in Mermaids cover art
Fiona and Jane cover art

Critic reviews

"A writer to watch." (Washington Post)

"The Vanishing Half is an utterly mesmerising novel. It seduces with its literary flair, surprises with its breath-taking plot twists, delights with its psychological insights, and challenges us to consider the corrupting consequences of racism on different communities and individual lives. I absolutely loved this book." (Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize 2019)

"Bennett allows her characters to follow their worst impulses, and she handles provocative issues with intelligence, empathy and dark humour." (New York Times )

What listeners say about The Vanishing Half

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,579
  • 4 Stars
    761
  • 3 Stars
    259
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    14
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,635
  • 4 Stars
    471
  • 3 Stars
    131
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    8
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,342
  • 4 Stars
    633
  • 3 Stars
    228
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    20

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous book.. Well narrated.

Loved this story. It was so well narrated, I was drawn in from the very start.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

great story

really interesting listen with ethics and ideas from another era . Greatly enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

I have been listening in the car and my gosh Shayna is amazing narrating this fab book by Brit Bennett. I could not stop listening to it and found myself thinking about the storyline well after I've finished with the book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable audiobook

I physically read The Vanishing Half last year when it came out and remember likening it but, wasn’t blown away. I decided it was time to re- visit through audio and I’m so glad I did. The story felt much richer and vibrant thanks to this narrators hard work. It is a wonderful story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant story!

This really had me gripped. If anything, it seemed to end too soon! I felt more could have been written about the lives of these women.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Amazing story that made me laugh and cry. Shayna Small’s voicework was brilliant. Can’t wait to read Brit Bennett’s next book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Vanishing Half

Excellent performance! Performance was the best I ever heard! Good story! Overall excellent! Want to listen again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting story

this is a interesting story that's told in an even more interesting way! the narrator has a vast array of voices for each character and the way she does it makes this story even more immersive for the listener.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I couldn't put it down.

A lovely story to share with friends. Was not at all what I imagined. I would definitely recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

compulsive

I couldn't put it down, is my only complaint! I read it for book club, we all loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful