Brit Bennett - A Outra Metade

Generation after generation, the black community of Mallard, in the southern state of Louisiana, strives to lighten their skin tone, favoring mixed marriages. Desiree and Stella are a good example of this, with their “wet sand” skin, hazel-brown eyes and wavy hair. But their appearance is not enough to rid them of the stigma, and they end up witnessing their father's violent death and their mother's humiliation afterwards.

At the age of sixteen, they choose to flee the suffocating land together. They want to escape their blood and free their future. But the flight to New Orleans ends up driving the sisters apart. Fourteen years later, Desiree returns to her mother's house, dragging through the dusty streets a daughter with skin as black as tar, who attracts all the stares of the backward town. Stella, on the other hand, has her life built on a lie: she lives in California, pretends to be white, and her husband knows nothing about her past. Despite so many kilometers and so many lies separating them, the twins' fates are inevitably intertwined. And they will cross paths again, because it's impossible to deny the half that belongs to us. In this family saga, Brit Bennett creates a story of universal and timeless appeal. Not dwelling on the inevitable central theme of race and identity, The Other Half reflects on the weight of the past in the present, ponders the consequences and limits of personal reinvention and offers a powerful meditation on family and inpidual freedom.