BVBook Verdict
Essential Read

Passing

by Nella Larsen · 1929

Classics · ranked #45 in category

Two light-skinned Black women meet by chance in Chicago in the 1920s: Irene is secure in her Black identity, while Clare is 'passing' as white in a marriage to a man who doesn't know. Larsen's compressed, devastating novella explores race, class, desire and the specific psychological violence of a world that forces people to choose.

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The verdict

Category
Classics
First published
1929 · 1920s
Author
Nella Larsen
Standing
Essential Read

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