
Under the Rainbow
A Novel
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By:
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Celia Laskey
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize
"Delivered with such conviction and grace...fresh...essential.” (The New York Times Book Review)
When outsiders on a mission arrive to change a small town’s attitudes, residents and newcomers alike end up transformed.
Big Burr, Kansas is the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone - or so they think. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr “the most homophobic town in the US” and sends in a queer task force to live and work there for two years, no one is prepared for what will ensue.
Still grieving the death of her son, Linda welcomes the newcomers, who know mercifully little about her past. Teenage Avery, furious at being uprooted from her life in L.A. and desperate to fit in at her new high school, fears it’s only a matter of time before her classmates discover her mom is the head of the task force. And Gabe, an avid hunter who has lived in Big Burr his whole life, suddenly feels as if he’s in the crosshairs.
As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and bringing difficult truths to light, both long time residents and new arrivals must reconsider what it means to belong.
Told with warmth and wit, Under the Rainbow is a poignant, hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity and the ways we can learn to live with each other and ourselves.
©2020 Celia Laskey (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Celia Laskey's Under the Rainbow is a timely look into what it means to be queer in spaces that aggressively refuse you. Smart and compulsively readable, Laskey has woven together narratives that seek to embrace each other through the hurt. There is love and loss alike sandwiched in its pages; pain and pleasure. Laskey is a talented, sharp writer and her debut novel has its fingers on the pulse of the human condition." (Kristen Arnett, author of the New York Times best seller Mostly Dead Things)
"Celia Laskey has written an excellent, big-hearted, and very funny novel about our contemporary divisions and grievances. Under the Rainbow is wonderfully current, yet it refuses to sacrifice love or empathy to politics, it refuses despair and destruction. Those of us who moved away from the rural places where we were born will recognize every one of her remarkable characters, and find in their braided stories incredible pathos and joy." (Shannon Pufahl, author of On Swift Horses)
"Under the Rainbow marks the arrival of a wildly talented, observant, political, feminist writer to the literary ranks. Celia Laskey is a true original, and she’s here to stay." (Emily Rapp Black, author of New York Times best seller The Still Point of the Turning World)
Featured Article: The Best Lesbian Listens by Queer Authors
Get to know lesbian literature’s past and present with these essential listens from the LGBTQIA+ canon. Anyone on the hunt for the best LGBTQIA+ audiobooks knows that it can still be a challenge to find stories centered on lesbian characters and experiences. Discover the best lesbian listens across fiction and nonfiction and in a range of genres and age categories, with one common factor: All of these stories are focused on lesbian characters.
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boring and predictable with no real meat
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Awesome LGBTQ Seemingly So True
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What a heartfelt story
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I look forward to more great books by this author!
Almost Perfect
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Happy
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Beautiful book
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Good book enjoyed it very much explors lgbtq
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My only complaint is that I don't think the book portrayed the LGBT+ community very well. As a gay man, I was a bit horrified at how anti-straight society the LGBT characters appeared especially considering their mission in Big Burr was to create a more diverse and welcoming environment. Also was it really necessary to make the one gay male couple have marital issues and need to constantly invite others into their relationship? I understand that this is common in our community but it propagates a really terrible stereotype that gay men cannot be monogamous.
Conflicted
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Amazing Novel!
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Please Label YA Novels!!
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