The Night Rainbow by Claire King
Format/Source: ebook/libraryPublished: April 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 224 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
★★★★
Under the sweltering heat of the summer sun, five-year-old Pea – and her vivid imagination – run wild in the meadows behind her home on the edge of a small village in Southern France.
Pea’s father died in an accident, and now she only has her little sister, Margot, for company. Their mother is too sad to take care of them; she left her happiness in the hospital last year, along with the first baby. Overwhelmed by grief, isolated from the other villagers, and pregnant again, Maman has withdrawn to a place where Pea cannot reach her, no matter how hard she tries.
When Pea meets Claude, a neighbour who seems to love the meadow as she does, she wonders if he could be their new papa. But the villagers view their friendship with suspicion. What secret is Claude keeping in his strange, empty house?
The Night Rainbow was one of the books that’s been on my TBR the longest. I added it in March 2013. I always get a sense of accomplishment when I knock off one of those pre-2014 TBR books! I read about 10% of The Night Rainbow before bed one evening. I went to sleep not sure if I would stick with it. I finished the rest of it the next day. Even though the first-person narration by a five year old completely differentiates itself from Room (the only other adult novel I’ve read with a first-person child narrator, which I disliked), I wasn’t sure it was for me. I suppose I felt unsettled ‘hearing’ a child talk with a vocabulary and syntax beyond their age. However, King strikes a balance in giving Pea an adult voice and having her use that voice to express childish sentiments. Pea’s narration made for a refreshing change given that I’d been reading so many books told from a 12 year old’s perspective for 12 year old readers.
The last two sentences of the copy description above are a red herring. Suspicion of Claude and Pea’s friendship plays only a small part in the book. Claude doesn’t have any disturbing secrets – just a sad past (which comes as no shock to the reader) that Pea eventually learns about. The start of this book had me on edge because I wanted to read a lighter story in which Claude starred as a kind grandfather figure and not a kidnapper, murderer, rapist, etc. There were no hints that Claude would be revealed as a villain, so I eventually relaxed and enjoyed the story for what it is. The Night Rainbow is no dark mystery or Rene Denfeld heart-breaker!
Because of Pea’s limited perspective, the reader doesn’t see much of the neighbors and villagers. We learn gradually and briefly about Maman’s strained relationship with them. I would have appreciated a few more scenes with the French (especially with Pea’s grandmother), which could have helped to stress the ‘criticalness’ of Pea’s situation.
My final comment is on the setting – I adored the descriptions of French countryside. Oh, how I love to roam a countryside like Pea does! I loved imagining I was playing alongside her. The trips to the market and even one trip to the seaside had me sighing with longing. King lived for a number of years in Southern France. That’s evident in her writing.
The Bottom Line
A quiet story centered around the French countryside and the trials of an isolated widowed mother with depression, The Night Rainbow is ultimately a warming tale about a resilient and imaginative young child.
Further Reading
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