Rainbow black : a novel

"Lacey Bond has grown up in her parents' hippie New Hampshire daycare, idolizing her blasphemous, ultra-fashionable sister, Éclair, chasing baby squirrels, and contemplating trees. Then the Satanic Panic hits - the moral hysteria that shook the United States by its shoulders in the 80s and 90s. It's the summer of 1990 when Lacey's parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations from dozens of current and former daycare kids. The criminal trial that follows is one of several in the novel, and it marks the beginning of Lacey's relentless effort to survive after her literal and figurative guardians vanish, one by one. After the hysteria results in a devastating murder, Lacey runs away and starts over in Montreal with a new identity. But will she ever escape the constant fear of being found out and having to face the trauma of the media spotlight all over again? For readers of Ottessa Moshfegh, Emma Cline, and Donna Tartt comes a genuinely unique coming-of-age story that's also an unrelenting interrogation of America's endless cycle of moral panics"--

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	FICTION THR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	FICTION THR	Searching... Unknown

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"I've loved Maggie Thrash's work for years, and Rainbow Black is going to set so many new hearts aflame--murder, intrigue, queer love, dark humor AND satanic panic? Welcome to the Maggie Thrash Fan Club, world!"--Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow

For readers of Donna Tartt and Ottessa Moshfegh comes a brilliant, deliriously entertaining novel from the acclaimed author of Honor Girl. Rainbow Black is part murder mystery, part gay international fugitive love story--set against the '90s Satanic Panic and spanning 20 years in the life of a young woman pulled into its undertow.

Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents' rural daycare center.

Then the Satanic Panic hits. It's the summer of 1990 when Lacey 's parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.

As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.

Rainbow Black is an addictive, searing, high-octane triumph, an imaginative tour de force about one woman's tireless desire to be free.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Thrash, best known for the YA graphic memoir Honor Girl, makes her adult debut with a gripping story about the Satanic panic of the 1980s and its impact on a New Hampshire family. Lacey Bond has always known she's a lesbian, thanks in part to the freethinking encouraged by her hippie parents, who run a home daycare called Rainbow Kids. In 1990, when Lacey is 13, her parents are arrested and charged with sexual abuse. The complaints from victims' parents include accusations of Satanism, though the physical evidence amounts to little more than some candles and crystals belonging to Lacey's mother. During the lengthy trial, Lacey's older sister, Éclair, is murdered, and their parents are blamed by the media, though no one is charged. As the harrowing, nonlinear story unfolds, the reader learns more about what led to the case against the Bonds and the details behind Éclair's murder, all while Lacey attempts to find solace with her girlfriend Dylan, who is emotionally and physically abused by her bigoted family. Thrash convinces in her wrenching portrait of a community's intolerance and the resilience of queer love. Readers will be stirred. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Mar.)

Kirkus Review

An acclaimed author of YA fiction (Lost Soul, Be at Peace, 2018, etc.) writes her first novel for adults. In the summer of 1990, Lacey Bond's life is upended when her parents are accused of committing ritual abuse at their New Hampshire day care center. She and her older sister, Éclair, do their best to take care of themselves and defend their mother and father, but Lacey ends up in a group home, from which she eventually escapes to help her best--only--friend. It might be hard to imagine how Lacey's life could get worse from here, but it does. Perhaps the first thing to know about this novel is that anyone picking it up because of the satanic panic hook is likely to be disappointed. The fact that her parents are tried and convicted of crimes that are as preposterous as they are horrific certainly makes an impact on Lacey's life, but it's a small part of her story. Thrash packs so much into 400 pages that this novel shouldn't work. There's courtroom drama and family drama. There's murder and mystery. There's a romance complicated by, among other things, the threat of extradition. And holding it all together is an oddly shaped queer coming-of-age narrative. It does work, though, because of Thrash's ability to create compellingly unique characters, starting with her protagonist. It's not difficult to feel sympathy for young Lacey. Not only does she endure terrible tragedy at a young age, but every grownup in her life fails her in one way or another--sometimes spectacularly, sometimes ruthlessly. This is not to say that adolescent Lacey is one-dimensional and, when she becomes an adult, it's easy to see her as the product of her experiences. Beyond this, Thrash does a terrific job of making every character both singular and nuanced. Éclair, for example, is a wonder, and the lawyer Aaron Feingold is a tragicomic masterpiece. Thrash turns trauma, injustice, and hideous bad fortune into a story about resilience, reinvention, and love. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Lacey is wholly unprepared when the Satanic Panic comes for her parents. They run a day care on their New Hampshire farm until children, under the influence of hypnosis and prosecutorial prodding, begin making extreme accusations of abuse and occult practices. As Lacey's charismatic older sister commands the media spotlight and both their parents are imprisoned, Lacey is left to navigate both the court and the court of public opinion. Years later, Lacey has a new identity in a new country, working as a law clerk in Montreal. She and her girlfriend fled there after the hype surrounding the trial took a deadly turn. But the past refuses to stay buried. In this stunning and intense adult debut from YA author Thrash, Lacey is a nuanced character whose complex inner life as both a teen and a woman injects urgency into every hurdle she faces. At once a rivetingly dramatic procedural and an intimate portrait of a relationship forged in trauma, Rainbow Black boldly confronts the lingering shadows of guilt, betrayal, and secrecy.

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Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

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