Watch Brit Bennett discuss her bestseller "The Vanishing Half" - Los Angeles Times
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Watch Brit Bennett discuss her bestselling novel, ‘The Vanishing Half’

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This month, members of the L.A. Times Book Club have been reading “The Vanishing Half,” Brit Bennett’s bestselling novel about family secrets, identity and twin sisters whose lives take radically different paths.

Bennett joined Times readers at 6 p.m. Pacific Time Aug. 25 to discuss her book with writer Carla Hall. The virtual book talk is free and livestreamed on The Times Facebook Page, YouTube and on Twitter.

In a recent interview, Bennett says the novel was inspired by a conversation with her mom about growing up in rural Louisiana. There was one story too good to let slip by.

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Brit Bennett discusses her bestselling novel, "The Vanishing Half" with writer Carla Hall and the L.A. Times Book Club.
(Ken Kwok/Los Angeles Times)

“She brought it up the way parents often do, like it’s something everybody knew … that there were towns where people would intermarry so that their children would get lighter with each generation,” Bennett recalls. “And I was like: ‘Wait! Go back to that.’”

“The Vanishing Half” has dominated bestseller lists this summer and spurred a Hollywood bidding war in June. HBO won and is turning the novel into a limited series.

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