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Rainbow Milk

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Rainbow Milk

By: Paul Mendez
Narrated by: Paul Mendez
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize.

An Observer Top 10 Debut 2020.

Rainbow Milk is an intersectional coming-of-age story following 19-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of a Jehovah's Witness upbringing and the legacies of the Windrush generation.

In the Black Country in the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has moved to Britain with his wife to secure a brighter future for themselves and their children. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient in the face of such hostilities but are all too aware that they will need more than just hope to survive.

At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London - escaping from a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and the desolate, disempowered Black Country - but finds himself at a loss for a new centre of gravity and turns to sex work to create new notions of love, fatherhood and spirituality.

Rainbow Milk is a bold exploration of race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures. Paul Mendez is a fervent new writer with an original and urgent voice.

©2020 Paul Mendez (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction

Critic Reviews

"Sensuous and thrillingly well written." (Observer)

"When did you last read a novel about a young, black, gay, Jehovah Witness man from Wolverhampton who flees his community to make his way in London as a prostitute? This might be a debut, but Mendez is an exciting, accomplished and daring storyteller with a great ear for dialogue. Graphic Erotica Alert! Don't [listen to] this book if you like your fiction cosy and middle-of-the-road." (Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the 2019 Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other)

"The kind of novel you never knew you were waiting for. An explosive work that reels from sex, to sin, to salvation all the while grappling with what it means to black, gay, British, a son, a father, a lover, even a man. A remarkable debut." (Marlon James, Booker Prize winning author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf)
All stars
Most relevant  
A brave, brilliant, brutally honest, heartbreaking debut novel…. Beautifully read too. I loved it well.

Wow!

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Recommend, but for those who don't necessarily like books as explicit as I do, perhaps this one might be at times... punchy. Very interesting story, and it's always a treat when the author also narrates, and Mendez does an amazing job, the accents range from amazing to hilarious and it adds to the story. I def recommend regardless of sexual orientation, but most definitely to anyone part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Great book

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