Notes for later review: Light-skinned Black twins, Desiree and Stella, grow up in a tiny racist town in Louisiana. Stella discovers she can pass as a white woman and disappears, living out that life. Desiree also leaves, but comes back with a daughter with “blue-black” skin. We follow the separate lives of Desiree, Stella, Jude, and Kennedy, mothers and daughters, as they navigate the world over the course of a few decades. (Also: Jude’s boyfriend is a trans man and we follow part of his journey to gender affirming surgery through Jude’s perspective).

An emotional book that examines family and race and heartbreak and the way people settle, even if they thought they were chasing their dreams. A story of motherhood. A story of relationships. A story of love. A story of heartache.