I just hoped that there would be an audience for the book. I just hoped that people would even want to read books as we experience this epidemic and this crisis that we’re all in. And neither of those were things that I could have ever predicted with this book. It was a really strange and exciting month for me. What was that like?Ĭrazy! All those things happened back to back. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and there was this huge bidding war over the TV rights. To make sure you don’t miss anything in the meantime, sign up for the Vox Book Club newsletter. We’ll publish our first Idiot discussion post on Friday, September 11. Once you finish up here, get ready for our September coverage of Elif Batuman’s The Idiot, a very funny and very tender campus novel that takes place in 1995, just as email is beginning to take off.

Watch the full video above and read the highlights from our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, below. It was the culmination of our Vanishing Half coverage over the past month, and it did not disappoint. I chatted with Bennett about passing stories, how to write a romance that doesn’t feel controlling, and what it’s like to publish the runaway book of the summer. Last week, New York Times bestselling author Brit Bennett graced the Vox Book Club with a visit to discuss her latest novel, The Vanishing Half. The Vox Book Club is linking to to support local and independent booksellers.

Brit bennett the vanishing half