I hugely anticipated reading this book; I’d heard only positive things and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. After a slow start, this book delivered and then some. The first fifty pages or so were quite dry and I briefly considered DNFing but I’m so glad I didn’t!

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Rather than being about the sisters themselves (which is what I thought based on what I’d heard) the main character is actually Jude, the daughter of one of the sisters. Stella and Desiree, the twins at the heart of the novel, are quite elusive; it isn’t until the end that we really get a grip on who they are. As a result, it wasn’t until the second section of the book that the story really gets going, but BOY does it get going. I pushed through the first few chapters but I was barely able to put it down for the rest of the book. Jude is a fantastic character to read from, and her evolving relationship with Reese is a beautiful subplot. Kennedy, the daughter of the other sister, is fantastically awful but has a vulnerability to her that is occasionally endearing. The dynamic between the two of them is fascinating, especially as Kennedy begins to come to terms with their family relationship.

Brit Bennett has managed to paint an incredibly layered picture of life, not just about family tensions and secrets (which she writes so brilliantly) but how those family dynamics intersect with race, colourism, and gender identity. Jude, despite living in a Black community, suffers for having darker skin than those around her, while Stella, who has lied for her entire adult life about her race and family background, is fearful when a Black family move in across the street that somehow her secret will be revealed. Meanwhile we have Reese, a transgender man, accompanied by Jude on his journey to live his own authentic life.

I could spend hours unpicking the threads of the different social and cultural themes that weave together so effortlessly in this book, but instead I will take them with me past the final page, mull them over in the coming weeks/months/years as this book sticks with me, and leave the analysis to the sociologists and literature students who have the words and the know-how to coherently lay out those ideas. In the meantime, I urge you to pick up this book; it’s beautiful, poignant and powerful. (And once you’ve read it, please please tell me so we can discuss said social and cultural themes!)