Passing

<b>A NETFLIX BOOK CLUB PICK<br><br>Nella Larsen's powerful thrilling and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today. A <i>New York Times</i> Editors&#146; Choice.&#160;Now a major motion picture starring Tessa Thompson and Alexander Skarsg&#229;rd</b><br> &#160;<br> 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 &#147;pass&#148; as a white woman. Clare&#146;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&#146;s risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem Clare&#146;s interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene&#146;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.<br><br>For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1700&#160;titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the&#160;series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date&#160;translations by award-winning translators.