Author: Larsen, Nella (Keywords)

Fair, elegant, and ambitious, Clare is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage and has severed all ties to her past. Clare's childhood friend, Irene, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism th...

Fair, elegant, and ambitious, Clare is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage and has severed all ties to her past. Clare's childhood friend, Irene, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism th...

Irene Redfield, married to a successful physician, enjoys a comfortable life in Harlem, New York. Reluctantly, she renews her friendship with old school friend, Clare Kendry. Clare, who like Irene is light skinned, 'passes' as white and is married to a racist white man who has no idea about Clare...

Clare and Irene were childhood friends, both of African and European ancestry. They lost touch when Clare's father died, and she moved in with two paternal white aunts. The novel begins as the two childhood friends meet later in life..

Now a major Netflix film starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and Alexander Skarsgård Childhood friends Clare and Irene are both light-skinned enough to pass as white, but only one of them has chosen to cross the colour line and live with the secret hanging over her. Clare believes she had success...

'Quicksand', from 1928, was the first novel expressing the sexual desires of a black woman in conflict between sexual fulfilment and middle-class respectability. Passing tackles themes of both black people who pass for white, and desire between women.