2020 was hard, but it had some bright spots. Among those was the release of Brit Bennett’s widely anticipated second novel, The Vanishing Half, which explores the inner lives and decisions of light-skinned Black twin sisters who grow up in a small town in Louisiana where marrying light is marrying right. After both sisters flee the town for New Orleans, seeking new lives for themselves, one disappears completely, only to reappear as a white woman in California. As the sisters reckon with the decisions they’ve made and how they’ve impacted their daughters, they’re pulled back together in a way they never expected. Since its release in June, The Vanishing Half has been what feels like everywhere: atop the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers List, across dozens of Best of 2020 lists, and even on Barack Obama’s favorite reads of last year. For this episode, the team discusses highlights from the novel and what struck them most, plus recommend titles that help readers decide where to go next.