Passing by Nella Larsen

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Passing by Nella Larsen: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Passing by Nella Larsen, Episode 1

Chicago in 1925. Two women, childhood friends, are reacquainted by a chance meeting.

Two African American women meet one hot afternoon in Chicago, 1925. Both are light skinned and able to pass for white, but only one has chosen to spend her life on the other side.

In mid-1920s America, the Harlem renaissance of black culture and society may be underway but racism still runs deep through the habits and laws of the country. Clare Kendry has severed all ties to her impoverished past in the black community of Chicago. Elegant, fair-skinned and ambitious, she is now married to a wealthy white man who is unaware of her African-American heritage. 

When she renews her acquaintance with her childhood friend Irene, who is similarly light skinned but has not hidden her background, both women are forced to reassess their friendship and loyalties. 

Nella Larsen's intense and psychologically nuanced portrayal of lives and identities dangerously colliding, first published in 1929, has recently found new audiences in the cinema and now also as an English literature A -level set text.


Written by Nella Larsen
Read by Ayesha Antoine
Abridged by Isobel Creed 
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4

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Nella Larsen's intense, taut portrayal of lives and identities dangerously colliding.

First published in 1929, Nella Larsen's psychologically nuanced portrayal of lives and identities dangerously established her as a leading writer of America's Harlem Renaissance.

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