Why we’re excited
Roz and Cleo form a girl group in their teens in 1963, become famous together, then become rivals. When Cleo dies, the public wants her story, and the person best placed to tell it is Roz, the woman who loved and resented her for decades.
Brit Bennett wrote The Vanishing Half, about twin sisters who choose different racial identities, and before that The Mothers. This new novel moves through sixty years of soul, gospel and disco. Readers who liked those earlier books, or who are drawn to stories about female friendship turning into rivalry, should keep it on their list.
On our most-anticipated list since 21 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about The Last Diva
The Vanishing Half is the one Brit Bennett book we have reviewed, at 4 out of 5.
It sits at No. 18 on our June 2027 most-anticipated list, which ranks the month's books by how many readers have saved them.
From the publisher
The new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half
You might think that feuds are about hatred, but really they are love stories.
When Roz Randall and Cleo Wright form a singing group as teenagers in 1963, they are instantly bound by talent and ambition. Like their friendship, their fame appears fated—until rivalry seeps in. As their trajectories splinter and their lives churn through towering success and bottomless regret, Roz and Cleo remain consumed by each other to the end. Sometimes envy burns even hotter than talent.
When Cleo dies, the world mourns the legendary diva and hungers for her story. Roz Randall, her greatest rival, might be the one person who can tell it. Roz, facing her legacy, now has the chance to re-shape the portrait of their decades-long friendship and feud. What does she owe to Cleo and their past? Who owns a star’s secrets when the performance finally ends?
Spanning the 1960s to the present and pulsing with the sounds of R&B, soul, gospel, and disco, The Last Diva richly illustrates the price of fame, the bonds that define us, and a culture that leaches from its legends. Intimate and epic, it confirms Brit Bennett as one of the most extraordinary writers of her generation.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read The Last Diva yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
