Review 230: Raceless

Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong by Georgina Lawton
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Georgina’s experience growing up was she was white, period, with her darker skin color and hair was explained by ancestry somehow. This denial of her true parentage was always troublesome, making her believe maybe she was switched at birth in the hospital or something else that her mother would never admit. Her father was a generous loving man, and always accepted Georgina. After he passed away a DNA test proved he wasn’t her real father, and painfully her mother admitted to an affair one night in a pub, but without any other info.

This memoir explores this painful realization of understanding herself and her biological past, while also diving into generalizations of race. In trying to deal with the revelations and anger at her mother for never talking and denying Georgina the truth about herself, gaslighting her childhood, Georgina travels briefly, while writing freelance articles about race. Once back in London she tries again to deal with the emotional fall out with her mother.

While the book is well written, there are points where the focus seems to wander, although in somewhat related area, such as the long sections on hair. It is easy to image as more people take DNA tests, they will discover family secrets such as Georgina’s. There are a couple of similar situations also discussed in the book, but not thoroughly.



Thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.