Rainbow Milk

"There have been some very strong literary debuts over the last couple of months – and none more notable than the British writer Paul Mendez’s bold and assured Rainbow Milk. Glowingly endorsed by such literary heavyweights as Bernardine Evaristo and Marlon James, the semi-autobiographical Rainbow Milk unfolds in two parts, the first episode – a sort of a prologue – focuses upon Norman, a Jamaican ex-boxer loosely based on Mendez’s grandfather, who emigrates to an often hostile 1950s Britain; the second follows Jesse, a young, gay, black man as he is disfellowshipped by his community of Jehovah’s Witnesses, moves to London and begins to take clients as a sex worker. Later he finds new fellowship in the literary world. As with the Wyld book, these paired experiences illustrate the way violence and prejudice reverberate and mutate over decades, but it too is taken up with the yearning for tenderness and connection. Jesse’s story in particular is raw and powerful, offering unflinching descriptions of sex and desire, and it will make you feel alive. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter Also making a splash has been Kate Elizabeth Russell’s bestselling My Dark Vanessa , an account of a relationship between a male teacher and a precocious teenage pupil, through the eyes of the woman that girl grew into. When her ex-lover is publicly accused by another former student, Vanessa is forced to reframe what has until now appeared to her the defining romantic relationship of her life as one of rape and abuse. Bleakly discomfiting, My Dark Vanessa offers a a vivid depiction of vulnerability and the lifelong impact of grooming."