A NETFLIX BOOK CLUB PICK
Nella Larsen's powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity
of racial identity that continues to resonate today. A New York Times
Editors' Choice. Now a major motion picture starring Tessa Thompson and
Alexander Skarsgård
Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and
ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African
American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding
to "pass" as a white woman. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield,
just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American
community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare's risky
decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain.
After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in
Harlem, Clare's interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for
Irene's black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again,
and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a
way that is both tragic and telling. This edition features a new
introduction by Emily Bernard and notes by Thadious M. Davis.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of
classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700
titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works
throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the
series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and
notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as
up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
