Under the Rainbow

When a group of social activists arrive in a small town, the lives and beliefs of residents and outsiders alike are upended, in this wry, embracing novel.Big Burr, Kansas, is the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone, and everyone shares the same values-or keeps their opinions to themselves. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr "the most homophobic town in the US" and sends in a task force of queer volunteers as an experiment-they'll live and work in the community for two years in an attempt to broaden hearts and minds-no one is truly prepared for what will ensue.Furious at being uprooted from her life in Los Angeles and desperate to fit in at her new high school, Avery fears that it's only a matter of time before her "gay crusader" mom outs her. Still grieving the death of her son, Linda welcomes the arrivals, who know mercifully little about her past. And for Christine, the newcomers are not only a threat to the comforting rhythms of Big Burr life, but a call to action. As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and forcing closely guarded secrets into the light, everyone must consider what it really means to belong. Told with warmth and wit, Under the Rainbow is a poignant, hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity that reminds us we are more alike than we'd like to admit.

WARM, SLYLY FUNNY TAKE ON POPULAR TERRITORY: With her gentle skewering of small-town dynamics, Laskey is working in the tradition of beloved writers like Elizabeth Strout, Celeste Ng, and J. Ryan Stradal. She perfectly embodies the literary / commerical sweetspot that we do so well.LIGHT TOUCH WITH LIGHTNING ROD ISSUES: Under the Rainbow gives readers of all ages and backgrounds an entertaining and non-threatening way to engage with weighty and topical themes such as homophobia, trauma, and sexual and gender identity. The writing here is playful and subtle, never didactic or explicitly political, though with LGBTQ rights rolled back or challenged seemingly everyday, there will be ample publicity hooks.VOICE AND HEART: Laskey's ability to inhabit each character is so strong and specific. We're immediately drawn into their lives and we feel real empathy for them, even for those least "like us."BROAD APPEAL: Charming, wry, and completely of the moment, this is a book that will appeal as much to millennial activists as it will to those millennials' moms' book clubs.RAVE REVIEWS: Celia Laskey received a rave review in the NYTBR, and has gotten excellent coverage in Ms Magazine, Medium, PopSugar, and others, along with generating enormous buzz on social media, particulary with Good Reads.