“Passing” and “Quicksand”, Nella Larsen’s two novels, are both in the 2018 edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. “Passing” has also been chosen as the inaugural read for Netflix’s Book Club, hosted by Uzo Aduba. The film adaptation is set to premiere Wednesday, November 10th so if you haven’t read it you have time as this is a short novel!

The book was published in 1929 and its central theme is race and identity. We’re introduced to the main character, Irene Redfield, and we learn she is “passing” as being white to avoid prejudice. She then encounters a childhood friend, Clare Kendry. Clare is also “passing”. The book goes on to show the conflict Irene feels at occasionally “passing” while her husband and one of her sons cannot “pass”. She is eager to hear about Clare’s experience but doesn’t want to be the first to bring it up. The novel ends with a twist as Irene fights to protect the life she’s built. @penguinclassics has a kindle version with an introduction Emily Bernard, an editor at The American Scholar. Her intro gives background history of the way things were in the Harlem that Nella Larsen grew up and how the issues she wrote a fictional story on were not fictional. The intro can be previewed with Amazon’s “look inside” feature.