A stunning, timeless story about race, friendship, what keeps us apart and what drives us apart, from the one and only Toni Morrison, with an introduction by Zadie Smith. Twyla and Roberta have known each other since they were eight years old, when they were thrown together in a girls' shelter. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only to meet again later at a diner, a grocery store and then at a protest. Recitatif keeps Twyla's and Roberta's races ambiguous - we know that one is white and one is black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage? BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.