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The Night Rainbow
During one long, hot summer, five-year-old Pea and her little sister Margot play alone in the meadow behind their house, on the edge of a small village in Southern France. Her mother is too sad to take care of them; she left her happiness in the hospital, along with the baby. Pea's father has died in an accident and Maman, burdened by her double grief and isolated from the village by her Englishness, has retreated to a place where Pea cannot reach her - although she tries desperately to do so. Then Pea meets Claude, a man who seems to love the meadow as she does and who always has time to play. Pea believes that she and Margot have found a friend, and maybe even a new papa. But why do the villagers view Claude with suspicion? And what secret is he keeping in his strange, empty house? Elegantly written, haunting and gripping, The Night Rainbow is a novel about innocence and experience, grief and compassion and the dangers of an overactive imagination.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 14, 2013
77 people are currently reading
2556 people want to read
About the author
Claire King
4 books155 followersClaire King's debut novel, The Night Rainbow, was met with critical acclaim.
Her prize winning short fiction has been published online and in print including The New Scientist, The Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and Writers Forum magazine.
She lives with her family in the Cotswolds.
Her prize winning short fiction has been published online and in print including The New Scientist, The Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and Writers Forum magazine.
She lives with her family in the Cotswolds.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 434 reviews
February 13, 2013
I put down my copy of The Night Rainbow a few days ago and it is still tugging at my heartstrings. Tugging because inside its pages I met a child whose voice, whose world, whose entire existence was so utterly perfectly realised.
We met in southern France in a blisteringly hot summer when Pea – short for Peony – was just five and a half years old. She spent that summer outside, running wild in the country and in her own imagination, with her little sister, Margot, in tow.
Maman stayed inside. She was heavily pregnant and she had withdrawn from the world, since she lost a child late in an earlier pregnancy, since Papa was killed in an accident.
Pea tried to help, tried to be good, tried to draw her mother back into the world, but nothing worked.
As they wandered in the countryside Pea and Margot met a man who had withdrawn from the world too. He was called Claude, and his dog was called Merlin. He took an interest in the girls, he was kind, but he kept a distance.
There is sadness and loss threaded through the lives of Pea, Margot, Maman and Claude. It never quite goes away, but nor does the sense of how wonderful the world is, and what a grand thing it is to be alive.
There’s little that can be said about the story that doesn’t say too much. But I can say that it is beautifully constructed, with gentle twists and turns that are never obvious but always right. And I can say that it is told in a voice that is captivating and so very, very real. A voice that always rang true.
Pea pulled me into her world, and she made me see and feel things as she did. I felt the sun beating down. I saw the parched grass and the meadows full of flowers. I tasted the baguettes that were delivered every morning, the peaches that were there to be pulled from the trees.
And she made me want to be five and a half, to take such delight in the world, to notice so many important things, to be caught in flights of fancy and amusement, to watch the strange ways adults behave from the sidelines, and most of all to have the faith in the world that comes from living in the moment.
But though I saw the magic in Pea’s life I saw the danger too, the loneliness and that neglect. Light and shade.
That made me want to be a grown-up again, so that I could talk to people, so that I could do something to help. I don’t know what, but I had been drawn in, and I cared. Because Pea’s acute childish observation, the wealth of detail, the myriad observations, allowed me to see adult emotions and sitautions that she couldn’t comprehend.
There were just one or two moments when I wondered if Pea was just a little wise, a little too capable for her age. But maybe that was the result of her life and situation.
I was caught up in Pea’s world, and in her life, from the first page to the very last. And she still hasn’t quite let go.
And, of course, for all of this to work so beautifully, there had to be an intelligent and sensitive writer working in the background: Claire King pulled the strings quietly, invisibly, and I am intrigued to see what she might do next.
We met in southern France in a blisteringly hot summer when Pea – short for Peony – was just five and a half years old. She spent that summer outside, running wild in the country and in her own imagination, with her little sister, Margot, in tow.
Maman stayed inside. She was heavily pregnant and she had withdrawn from the world, since she lost a child late in an earlier pregnancy, since Papa was killed in an accident.
Pea tried to help, tried to be good, tried to draw her mother back into the world, but nothing worked.
As they wandered in the countryside Pea and Margot met a man who had withdrawn from the world too. He was called Claude, and his dog was called Merlin. He took an interest in the girls, he was kind, but he kept a distance.
There is sadness and loss threaded through the lives of Pea, Margot, Maman and Claude. It never quite goes away, but nor does the sense of how wonderful the world is, and what a grand thing it is to be alive.
There’s little that can be said about the story that doesn’t say too much. But I can say that it is beautifully constructed, with gentle twists and turns that are never obvious but always right. And I can say that it is told in a voice that is captivating and so very, very real. A voice that always rang true.
Pea pulled me into her world, and she made me see and feel things as she did. I felt the sun beating down. I saw the parched grass and the meadows full of flowers. I tasted the baguettes that were delivered every morning, the peaches that were there to be pulled from the trees.
And she made me want to be five and a half, to take such delight in the world, to notice so many important things, to be caught in flights of fancy and amusement, to watch the strange ways adults behave from the sidelines, and most of all to have the faith in the world that comes from living in the moment.
But though I saw the magic in Pea’s life I saw the danger too, the loneliness and that neglect. Light and shade.
That made me want to be a grown-up again, so that I could talk to people, so that I could do something to help. I don’t know what, but I had been drawn in, and I cared. Because Pea’s acute childish observation, the wealth of detail, the myriad observations, allowed me to see adult emotions and sitautions that she couldn’t comprehend.
There were just one or two moments when I wondered if Pea was just a little wise, a little too capable for her age. But maybe that was the result of her life and situation.
I was caught up in Pea’s world, and in her life, from the first page to the very last. And she still hasn’t quite let go.
And, of course, for all of this to work so beautifully, there had to be an intelligent and sensitive writer working in the background: Claire King pulled the strings quietly, invisibly, and I am intrigued to see what she might do next.
July 9, 2015
No rating causes me as much consternation and angst as the three-star rating. In my time on Goodreads, I've used it to mean everything from 'this was a great concept/something I was really looking forward to, but the execution was quite poor' to 'this was a really good book, but it just lacked something/wasn't essentially my kind of thing'. The Night Rainbow is another should-have-been-3-and-a-half (but I can't quite bring myself to give it 4). Claire King's debut is a thoroughly charming tale, full of atmosphere and laced with sadness.
Five-year-old Pea (short for Peony) and her younger sister Margot live in the South of France with their English mother. The story is set over the course of one very hot summer when Pea and Margot are left to roam the countryside surrounding their farm largely unchecked. Their mother is heavily pregnant and depressed, having lost both her previous baby and the girls' father within the year. Pea and Margot play together every day in the fields, inventing games and trying to work out what they can do to help their mother and make her happy again. Then they meet Claude, a loner who befriends them and dazzles them with gifts - sweets, a treehouse, even bicycles. However, the reader sees what the adults in the village see: that Claude's interest in the children is worrying, and that the family desperately needs outside help.
I received a copy of The Night Rainbow from Netgalley, and I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. The reason for that sentiment is that Pea narrates the story herself, and I am emphatically not a fan of child narrators. It's testament to the author's ability that I really enjoyed this book despite that. Pea's voice is authentically childlike, but rarely irritating, and it's very effective at evoking the atmosphere of the French countryside, the magic and the boredom of village life, and the stifling heat of summer. I didn't find it difficult to get drawn into the story and enjoy Pea's innocent, imaginative descriptions of the world around her.
There's a significant twist in this book which I guessed fairly early on, and I'm not sure whether or not I was supposed to. I did feel the reader was definitely meant to figure it out on their own - as there's no proper reveal - but the fact that I spotted it quickly affected my reading of the book thereafter, as I was looking for further clues or suggestions in the narrative. How soon you see it will probably depend on how closely you examine the story: some readers will probably guess right at the beginning, others might manage to make it all the way through to the end without realising. I will say that the author did an excellent job of weaving this secret into the narrative - there are many parts that must have been incredibly difficult to write without making it obvious.
My other (semi-)complaint is that there just isn't very much to the plot. The description in the blurb is, I think, a bit misleading: it didn't seem there was that much suspicion or secrecy surrounding Claude, and the situation wasn't played for drama like it might have been in a different kind of book. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I was expecting more tension in the build-up to the book's climax. And the night rainbow itself doesn't really have much significance - apart from being a reminder of the power of imagination, which is the key element of the story.
The Night Rainbow is a slow-paced, sedate book, highly redolent of the haze of summer and the enchantment of childhood. In this, it reminded me of The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall, and I would probably have enjoyed it more if I'd read it on a suitably hot and sunny day rather than finishing it while quite literally snowed in to my house! If you enjoy stories with child narrators, you're going to love this. If, like me, you're not usually keen, this book may very well convert you. While I feel it lacks the impact needed to be truly memorable, it's sweet and engaging - but save it for the summer.
Five-year-old Pea (short for Peony) and her younger sister Margot live in the South of France with their English mother. The story is set over the course of one very hot summer when Pea and Margot are left to roam the countryside surrounding their farm largely unchecked. Their mother is heavily pregnant and depressed, having lost both her previous baby and the girls' father within the year. Pea and Margot play together every day in the fields, inventing games and trying to work out what they can do to help their mother and make her happy again. Then they meet Claude, a loner who befriends them and dazzles them with gifts - sweets, a treehouse, even bicycles. However, the reader sees what the adults in the village see: that Claude's interest in the children is worrying, and that the family desperately needs outside help.
I received a copy of The Night Rainbow from Netgalley, and I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. The reason for that sentiment is that Pea narrates the story herself, and I am emphatically not a fan of child narrators. It's testament to the author's ability that I really enjoyed this book despite that. Pea's voice is authentically childlike, but rarely irritating, and it's very effective at evoking the atmosphere of the French countryside, the magic and the boredom of village life, and the stifling heat of summer. I didn't find it difficult to get drawn into the story and enjoy Pea's innocent, imaginative descriptions of the world around her.
There's a significant twist in this book which I guessed fairly early on, and I'm not sure whether or not I was supposed to. I did feel the reader was definitely meant to figure it out on their own - as there's no proper reveal - but the fact that I spotted it quickly affected my reading of the book thereafter, as I was looking for further clues or suggestions in the narrative. How soon you see it will probably depend on how closely you examine the story: some readers will probably guess right at the beginning, others might manage to make it all the way through to the end without realising. I will say that the author did an excellent job of weaving this secret into the narrative - there are many parts that must have been incredibly difficult to write without making it obvious.
My other (semi-)complaint is that there just isn't very much to the plot. The description in the blurb is, I think, a bit misleading: it didn't seem there was that much suspicion or secrecy surrounding Claude, and the situation wasn't played for drama like it might have been in a different kind of book. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I was expecting more tension in the build-up to the book's climax. And the night rainbow itself doesn't really have much significance - apart from being a reminder of the power of imagination, which is the key element of the story.
The Night Rainbow is a slow-paced, sedate book, highly redolent of the haze of summer and the enchantment of childhood. In this, it reminded me of The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall, and I would probably have enjoyed it more if I'd read it on a suitably hot and sunny day rather than finishing it while quite literally snowed in to my house! If you enjoy stories with child narrators, you're going to love this. If, like me, you're not usually keen, this book may very well convert you. While I feel it lacks the impact needed to be truly memorable, it's sweet and engaging - but save it for the summer.
November 15, 2016
A rather charming debut novel that deals with death and childhood sensitively and believably. I will look for more from this author.
June 11, 2017
“Maman!
The word seems to come out of me all on its own. I think it's strange my mouth would do that. The rest of my head knows she's never there.”
This was something i never read before. I came across this book at a Bookconvention and thought that it would be fun to read from a little girls perspective. Well Pea, short for Peony, is the most smart and beautiful little five year old i have ever read about. We meet Pea in a very troubling time in her life. Her mother is depressed, because of the los of her baby and her husband, Peony's father died in a accident and now she is all alone with her little sister Margot and her imagination.
Pea is quite grown-up for her age, but i think that that comes from the surcomestances in her life. She is trying to make her mother happy and is trying to run the household. When Pea and Margot run around the counrtyside the meet a man, Claude. There is a kind of sadness about him, but he had taken an interessed in the little girls, he is kind to them, plays with them but keeps his distance. There is sadness and loss threaded through the lives of Pea, Margot, Maman and Claude. It never quite goes away, but nor does the sense of how wonderful the world is, and what a grand thing it is to be alive.
There is little to say about this story without giving to much away. What i can say about this book is that it is beautifully constructed, with twists and turns that are never obvious. The voice in which Pea is portraid is so true to character, you really see the world through a little girls eyes. She made me want to be five and a half, to take such delight in the world, to notice so many important things, to be caught in flights of fancy and amusement, to watch the strange ways adults behave from the sidelines, and most of all to have the faith in the world that comes from living in the moment.
Although there was a lot of magic in Pea's life i saw alot of danger too. The loneliness, the neglect.. every alarm sign went off. It made me want to shake her mother to realisation, look at your little girl, she is still here.. she needs you! All i can say about this book is that i felt true and it was a story that pulled on your heartstrings.
The reason that i didn't rated this 5 or 4 stars is the fact that some times i couldn't deal with the 5 year old perspective, i would have liked to see some some perspectives. It is a beautifull story but the ending also felt a little bit rushed, it was there in a second out of nowhere. To leave this at a positive note, read this book, it tells you so much about the world and teaches you so much! Loved it!
The word seems to come out of me all on its own. I think it's strange my mouth would do that. The rest of my head knows she's never there.”
This was something i never read before. I came across this book at a Bookconvention and thought that it would be fun to read from a little girls perspective. Well Pea, short for Peony, is the most smart and beautiful little five year old i have ever read about. We meet Pea in a very troubling time in her life. Her mother is depressed, because of the los of her baby and her husband, Peony's father died in a accident and now she is all alone with her little sister Margot and her imagination.
Pea is quite grown-up for her age, but i think that that comes from the surcomestances in her life. She is trying to make her mother happy and is trying to run the household. When Pea and Margot run around the counrtyside the meet a man, Claude. There is a kind of sadness about him, but he had taken an interessed in the little girls, he is kind to them, plays with them but keeps his distance. There is sadness and loss threaded through the lives of Pea, Margot, Maman and Claude. It never quite goes away, but nor does the sense of how wonderful the world is, and what a grand thing it is to be alive.
There is little to say about this story without giving to much away. What i can say about this book is that it is beautifully constructed, with twists and turns that are never obvious. The voice in which Pea is portraid is so true to character, you really see the world through a little girls eyes. She made me want to be five and a half, to take such delight in the world, to notice so many important things, to be caught in flights of fancy and amusement, to watch the strange ways adults behave from the sidelines, and most of all to have the faith in the world that comes from living in the moment.
Although there was a lot of magic in Pea's life i saw alot of danger too. The loneliness, the neglect.. every alarm sign went off. It made me want to shake her mother to realisation, look at your little girl, she is still here.. she needs you! All i can say about this book is that i felt true and it was a story that pulled on your heartstrings.
The reason that i didn't rated this 5 or 4 stars is the fact that some times i couldn't deal with the 5 year old perspective, i would have liked to see some some perspectives. It is a beautifull story but the ending also felt a little bit rushed, it was there in a second out of nowhere. To leave this at a positive note, read this book, it tells you so much about the world and teaches you so much! Loved it!
February 9, 2014
A touching story of sadness , loss , death and grief see through the eyes of five year old Pea will at times break your heart . This is A beautifully written story of how Pea copes with her life and ultimately how kindness eases the pain .
September 2, 2018
omg omg new favourite!!!
January 29, 2013
Claire King's debut novel is an absolute delight with a narrator who will grab your heartstrings and never let go. Set in Southern France, during a blistering hot summer, this is the story of five year old Pea aka Peony aka Pivoine and her younger sister Margot. Their mother has retreated into herself following a miscarriage and the later death of their Papa. Maman is heavily pregnant again but Pea and Margot are left to their own devices, wandering the countryside where they meet up with Claude, a middle aged man with whom they strike up a friendship. Not everyone approves of their friendship but Maman's absence, both physical and emotional, means that the girls have to fend for themselves.
Narrated by Pea, this is a beautifully written story with equal amounts of joy and sadness. Pea and Margot's interactions will make you smile as they strive to make a plan to cheer up Maman but the smiles quickly vanish when their efforts fall flat. Yes, there is sadness here but the overall mood is one of optimism as Pea just bounces back and looks for another remedy for her mother's despair.
The author has captured Pea's five year old voice perfectly, that eternal optimism, the desire to live in the moment, the clarity of vision which can see when grown-ups are just overthinking and making things more complicated than what they really are. One could learn a lot from a child like Pea. This is a sparkling, quirky, captivating debut, highly recommended.
Narrated by Pea, this is a beautifully written story with equal amounts of joy and sadness. Pea and Margot's interactions will make you smile as they strive to make a plan to cheer up Maman but the smiles quickly vanish when their efforts fall flat. Yes, there is sadness here but the overall mood is one of optimism as Pea just bounces back and looks for another remedy for her mother's despair.
The author has captured Pea's five year old voice perfectly, that eternal optimism, the desire to live in the moment, the clarity of vision which can see when grown-ups are just overthinking and making things more complicated than what they really are. One could learn a lot from a child like Pea. This is a sparkling, quirky, captivating debut, highly recommended.
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May 28, 2013At five and a half, Pea understands that sometimes babies don't come home from the hospital, fathers die, and mothers need a lot of rest if they are pregnant again -- so Pea makes her own food, tries to tidy the house to cheer up Maman, and takes four-year-old Margot to play and eat peaches in the meadow.
It's the kind of story that makes you want to adopt the main character; to jump through the pages, run in, and make it all right -- but we can only watch as Pea tries to mend her family.
This is the voice of a small girl, written by a mother of small girls. It's as charming as it sounds, with the clear, simple voice of the child interspersed with those flashes of intuition that five-year-olds produce occasionally, just to remind us that they understand more than we know.
Favourite character? Margot -- little sister, voice of reason, bearer of night rainbows.
It's the kind of story that makes you want to adopt the main character; to jump through the pages, run in, and make it all right -- but we can only watch as Pea tries to mend her family.
This is the voice of a small girl, written by a mother of small girls. It's as charming as it sounds, with the clear, simple voice of the child interspersed with those flashes of intuition that five-year-olds produce occasionally, just to remind us that they understand more than we know.
Favourite character? Margot -- little sister, voice of reason, bearer of night rainbows.
October 11, 2015
This book made me laugh and cry, something which rarely happens for me..... the writing is lyrical and beautiful, the story is all embracing; impossible to put down, and the twists are subtle and satisfying. Pea, the central character is someone i won't forget in a long, long time.
February 18, 2015
It's hard to put into words just how good this book is. I normally read crime and psychological thrillers, so it was refreshing to look at another genre for a change. In a nutshell it is about how a little girl copes with her mother heavily pregnant (and barely capable of scraping a meal together) and an absent (deceased) father. It takes place during a hot summer in rural France and follows Pea as she explores her world, tries to make sense of what is happening and struggles to look after herself.
The writing is fresh, original, poignant, funny, evocative and atmospheric. The language is gorgeous - the voice of five year old Pea spot on in pitch and content.
'I stare my eyes hard so the tears can't get out.'
'Her face is the most wrinkled face I know. It looks like a peach stone sucked clean.'
'It is hot, but in a nice way, as though the storm put the sticky summer in a washing machine...'
Truly aspirational for any writer, in the detail, observations and imagery through Pea's naive and innocent eyes. And for any reader - this is pure delight. Highly recommended!
The writing is fresh, original, poignant, funny, evocative and atmospheric. The language is gorgeous - the voice of five year old Pea spot on in pitch and content.
'I stare my eyes hard so the tears can't get out.'
'Her face is the most wrinkled face I know. It looks like a peach stone sucked clean.'
'It is hot, but in a nice way, as though the storm put the sticky summer in a washing machine...'
Truly aspirational for any writer, in the detail, observations and imagery through Pea's naive and innocent eyes. And for any reader - this is pure delight. Highly recommended!
April 4, 2013
I can't say I've read any books written from the perspective of a child as young as Five and a half. The Night Rainbow by Claire King provides us with the voice of Pea who lives in the south of France with her younger sister Margot, and her mother. Pea is tasked with helping her mother feel happier after having lost her husband and child in the same year and with helping her sister Margot create new games for them to play in their expansive fields.
Pea and Margot are definitely independant, fun loving children who do a great job at carrying this novel with their adventures. Pea's voice of innocence works well not to bring the tone of the story down although there is much to be sad about. The mother is pregnant and highly depressed after being dealt such a hard blow of losing her husband. Pea can't seem to make her happy and she gets the brilliant idea of asking their new found friend Claude to be their new Papa. Did I fail to mention Claude? Well Claude and his dog Merlin befriends the girls by giving them gifts and spending time with them. I know, I know.
Claire King writes spectacularly from a child's point of view using vivid imagery with fantastical qualities only imagination can provide. I actually felt sorry for Pea most of the novel because I felt she was neglected and left to deal with life on her own but she still seemed happy. She's only aware of the danger that a child would encounter such as going to use the bathroom in the middle of the night or having a nightmare. The reader is aware that the mother pretty much checked out which is maddening as well as heartbreaking. Pea doesn't see what we the readers are able to see through experience and that's why her friendship with Claude kept me glued to the pages with angst.
Overall, I really enjoyed this atmospheric novel written by Claire King. There are many reasons this novel could be sad for readers but the light-hearted air of Pea's voice, recounting her summer adventures enables this novel to be pretty enjoyable. I long for the days when I didn't have a care in the world and could see things through a child's eye. I recommend this novel for all who long for those days as well.
Pea and Margot are definitely independant, fun loving children who do a great job at carrying this novel with their adventures. Pea's voice of innocence works well not to bring the tone of the story down although there is much to be sad about. The mother is pregnant and highly depressed after being dealt such a hard blow of losing her husband. Pea can't seem to make her happy and she gets the brilliant idea of asking their new found friend Claude to be their new Papa. Did I fail to mention Claude? Well Claude and his dog Merlin befriends the girls by giving them gifts and spending time with them. I know, I know.
Claire King writes spectacularly from a child's point of view using vivid imagery with fantastical qualities only imagination can provide. I actually felt sorry for Pea most of the novel because I felt she was neglected and left to deal with life on her own but she still seemed happy. She's only aware of the danger that a child would encounter such as going to use the bathroom in the middle of the night or having a nightmare. The reader is aware that the mother pretty much checked out which is maddening as well as heartbreaking. Pea doesn't see what we the readers are able to see through experience and that's why her friendship with Claude kept me glued to the pages with angst.
Overall, I really enjoyed this atmospheric novel written by Claire King. There are many reasons this novel could be sad for readers but the light-hearted air of Pea's voice, recounting her summer adventures enables this novel to be pretty enjoyable. I long for the days when I didn't have a care in the world and could see things through a child's eye. I recommend this novel for all who long for those days as well.
August 5, 2013
First of all let me just say ... this book made me feel all the feels!
The Night Rainbow is a beautifully written book about 5 year old Pea and her Maman (Mother). After the death of her new born baby and her husband Joanna is in a serious depression, neglecting her daughter and spending all of her time in bed. Pea and Margot look after themselves, spending their days out in the meadow and in the beautiful French countryside. Maman does not feed them properly or bathe them and they are basically left to fend for themselves.
They meet Claude and his dog Merlin and an unlikely friendship is formed, while I was suspicious of Claude's intentions at first we learn that he really is just a kind hearted man who is trying to help. He gives the girls food and attention and nurtures them.
The writing in this book and the descriptions were fantastic, I really felt like I was right there in the French countryside with Pea, I could taste the peaches, olives, baguettes and biscuits as she ate them. I could feel the hot summer breeze and her loneliness, I was COMPLETELY lost in this book.
I adored Pea as a character, Claire King does an amazing job of capturing the innocence of a five year old and it made me nostalgic. I think we'd all like to be children again to go back and see things as magical and wonderful in the way Pea does.
The relationships were both heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. They were always believable and I cried a few times while reading this book. I loved how all of the characters developed and matured throughout the book. There were times when I wanted to jump into the pages and comfort Pea and give Maman a piece of my mind but everything worked out for the best I feel.
I completely adored this book it is a summer read in my opinion and I will be fishing it out again to reread next year for sure.
5 out of 5 stars!!
The Night Rainbow is a beautifully written book about 5 year old Pea and her Maman (Mother). After the death of her new born baby and her husband Joanna is in a serious depression, neglecting her daughter and spending all of her time in bed. Pea and Margot look after themselves, spending their days out in the meadow and in the beautiful French countryside. Maman does not feed them properly or bathe them and they are basically left to fend for themselves.
They meet Claude and his dog Merlin and an unlikely friendship is formed, while I was suspicious of Claude's intentions at first we learn that he really is just a kind hearted man who is trying to help. He gives the girls food and attention and nurtures them.
The writing in this book and the descriptions were fantastic, I really felt like I was right there in the French countryside with Pea, I could taste the peaches, olives, baguettes and biscuits as she ate them. I could feel the hot summer breeze and her loneliness, I was COMPLETELY lost in this book.
I adored Pea as a character, Claire King does an amazing job of capturing the innocence of a five year old and it made me nostalgic. I think we'd all like to be children again to go back and see things as magical and wonderful in the way Pea does.
The relationships were both heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. They were always believable and I cried a few times while reading this book. I loved how all of the characters developed and matured throughout the book. There were times when I wanted to jump into the pages and comfort Pea and give Maman a piece of my mind but everything worked out for the best I feel.
I completely adored this book it is a summer read in my opinion and I will be fishing it out again to reread next year for sure.
5 out of 5 stars!!
July 7, 2013
I picked The Night Rainbow up from the library on my way out of town without a clue about the subject or author, solely on the recommendation of a relative who wanted to discuss it when our vacations at the same cottage overlapped this summer.
I read this through in one day, beginning to end. It has short chapters, which made it easy to put down when I needed to see to dinner or tuck my daughter into bed. The short chapters also made it easy to sneak one in while tending a pot on the stove or waiting for my daughter to finish her bedtime routine. The writing style was different, and a welcome change of pace. (If you don't care for it after a couple of chapters, this may not be the book for you.)
Reading about the south of France makes almost any book a great beach read, but King's narrative style was what really drew me in. This story is told from the perspective of a very precocious girl nearly my daughter's age, and the characterization was spot on. Everything from this child's speech patterns to her heightened perception of reality was uncanny. It goes without saying that the story itself was beautiful in its own right.
I read this through in one day, beginning to end. It has short chapters, which made it easy to put down when I needed to see to dinner or tuck my daughter into bed. The short chapters also made it easy to sneak one in while tending a pot on the stove or waiting for my daughter to finish her bedtime routine. The writing style was different, and a welcome change of pace. (If you don't care for it after a couple of chapters, this may not be the book for you.)
Reading about the south of France makes almost any book a great beach read, but King's narrative style was what really drew me in. This story is told from the perspective of a very precocious girl nearly my daughter's age, and the characterization was spot on. Everything from this child's speech patterns to her heightened perception of reality was uncanny. It goes without saying that the story itself was beautiful in its own right.
January 6, 2014
This is an amazing, must read book. It's not my usual genre - which is romance, which I read like crack!
But it is sooooo beautiful. I read this for a real life book group I am part of and I'm so glad my friend picked this as it's very different to anything I've read in a long time.
It is told from five year old Pea's pov and her voice is very strong and real. If you've ever been lonely or unhappy as a child Pea will take you right back there to those feelings.
This book broke my heart but it also put it back together again. It made me feel so much for the various characters and there's quite a big twist that shocked me even more when I realised it and which made the book even sadder.
It is also very evocative and when you are reading the passages where Pea and her mother go to the food market you can almost be there. It brought back sun soaked memories of European holidays mooching around colorful markets full of gorgeous food and spices.
I can't rec this enough. It's a short read and very different to most things out there. I predict great things for Claire King.
But it is sooooo beautiful. I read this for a real life book group I am part of and I'm so glad my friend picked this as it's very different to anything I've read in a long time.
It is told from five year old Pea's pov and her voice is very strong and real. If you've ever been lonely or unhappy as a child Pea will take you right back there to those feelings.
This book broke my heart but it also put it back together again. It made me feel so much for the various characters and there's quite a big twist that shocked me even more when I realised it and which made the book even sadder.
It is also very evocative and when you are reading the passages where Pea and her mother go to the food market you can almost be there. It brought back sun soaked memories of European holidays mooching around colorful markets full of gorgeous food and spices.
I can't rec this enough. It's a short read and very different to most things out there. I predict great things for Claire King.
November 6, 2016
This is a haunting story, narrated by a little girl whose pregnant, recently widowed mother is lost in grief. Unique and intense in a quiet way, The Night Rainbow transports the reader back to the thought processes and perceptions of a young child. You see the world through her eyes. I suspect it takes a talented writer to do this, and Claire King has succeeded beautifully! A few colorful characters lend warmth and some humor - a welcome relief to the underlying loneliness. Parts are funny, and parts made me weep. It is skillfully wrought; the well-developed plot leaves the reader both wanting more, and strangely uplifted! Maggie O’Farrell’s endorsement on the back cover sums it up : ‘At once moving and gripping, elegant and spare’!
August 23, 2015
Een ontroerend en tegelijk grappig boek dat je helemaal in het zuiden van Frankrijk doet wanen. Ik hou sowieso van boeken die geschreven zijn vanuit het perspectief van een kind zonder dat het kinderachtig is. De meeste auteurs kunnen dat best goed, maar de vertelstijl in dit boek was zo overtuigend en zo écht dat ik er nu van uit ga dat er ergens in een klein dorpje in Zuid Frankrijk meisje rondloopt dat Pea heet.
Een aanrader.
Een aanrader.
September 20, 2018
A great read told from the perspective of 5 year old Pea. Her Maman is heavily pregnant, grieving and suffering with exhaustion. So Pea takes care of herself, goes out to play and tells their story.
There are lovely colourful characters throughout. This book makes you laugh out loud and cry in equal measure.
I could not put it down, it’s delightful.
There are lovely colourful characters throughout. This book makes you laugh out loud and cry in equal measure.
I could not put it down, it’s delightful.
August 2, 2016
The Night Rainbow, Claire King’s debut novel, has been highly praised by such firmly established novelists as Joanne Harris and Maggie O’Farrell. It has been promised that the book is ‘an unforgettable novel about innocence and experience, grief and compassion and the dangers of an overactive imagination’.
The Night Rainbow is told from the first person perspective of five-year-old Peony, called by the affectionate nickname of Pea. Pea lives on the edge of a small village in the South of France, along with her heavily pregnant English mother and four-year-old Margot. Their mother, Joanna, is overwhelmed by grief. Pea tells us in her honest voice how, when her mother came back from hospital the preceding year, ‘She had changed from fat to thin, but she didn’t bring back a baby like she promised. She left it at the hospital, along with her happiness’. Despite being pregnant again, Joanna has the added sadness of having to contend with the bottomless well of grief left after her French husband Amaury’s death: ‘One day in spring, he was driving his tractor on a hill and he fell off it and was squashed… Without Papa here there is never a very good time to be in the house, so every day we have to decide where to go’.
Pea’s voice is captured immediately, and many childish proclamations are woven throughout: ‘half of me is sunny and hot because I’m sitting in a ribbon of outside’, Pea tells us. When introducing herself and Margot, she says, ‘Margot is like me and she is not like me. I am five and a half, Margot is only four, but she’s tall for her age. We both like cuddles and insects and cuddling insects and we both have freckles and green eyes, like Maman… In the sunlight Maman’s eyes are kaleidoscopes’. The girls are endearing from the outset. Pea describes the way in which ‘Margot dreams about tiny people that live in the cupboards and have parties on Thursdays, and about jigsaws that make themselves’.
Such childish magic has been included that it is difficult not to love the very bones of the girls from the first chapter. Margot quickly assumes the role of mother on their daily rambles: ‘Pea, look at you, you haven’t even got a hat on’, and ‘Today I am the maman, she says, so you will do as you’re told’. The girls have taken it upon themselves to try and find Maman’s lost happiness. ‘There are more than a thousand things in the world,’ Margot reasons, ‘and one of them must make Maman happy’. The girls are self-sufficient and often fix their own meals. They even take it upon themselves, in one particularly sad passage, to wash their clothes as Maman has forgotten to. Their love for Maman, and for each other, is touching.
Whilst on a trip to a nearby meadow to get out of the oppressive house, the girls meet a middle-aged man named Claude, who is inseparable from his dog Merlin. They see him as ‘a strange kind of grownup’, who does as the girls tell him to. He tells them that he knew their Papa, and a relationship of shared memories is built up accordingly. Claude becomes a steady part of their lives, a constant in uncertain times. He has his own sadness to contend with, and tells the girls that he is ‘a bit broken’, but their friendship is all the more strong because of it.
King’s descriptions of the landscapes in The Night Rainbow are a definite strength and, like Pea’s narrative voice, she has captured them perfectly. Many of these observations contain distinctly childish aspects: ‘I try to think about the rain. It is like people clapping, as though the clouds have done something clever… or maybe the swallows have put shoes on and are dancing on our roof’.
Pea and Margot are two of the most realistic childish protagonists I have come across in fiction, and they are distinctly memorable in consequence. The differences in their personalities – Pea is the worrier and Margot the one who reassures, for example: ‘Even though I am biggest she is the bravest’, Pea tells us – have been balanced wonderfully. King has successfully married together the idylls of a childhood lives in the rural South of France with the realities of loss, grief and loneliness. A marvellous debut.
The Night Rainbow is told from the first person perspective of five-year-old Peony, called by the affectionate nickname of Pea. Pea lives on the edge of a small village in the South of France, along with her heavily pregnant English mother and four-year-old Margot. Their mother, Joanna, is overwhelmed by grief. Pea tells us in her honest voice how, when her mother came back from hospital the preceding year, ‘She had changed from fat to thin, but she didn’t bring back a baby like she promised. She left it at the hospital, along with her happiness’. Despite being pregnant again, Joanna has the added sadness of having to contend with the bottomless well of grief left after her French husband Amaury’s death: ‘One day in spring, he was driving his tractor on a hill and he fell off it and was squashed… Without Papa here there is never a very good time to be in the house, so every day we have to decide where to go’.
Pea’s voice is captured immediately, and many childish proclamations are woven throughout: ‘half of me is sunny and hot because I’m sitting in a ribbon of outside’, Pea tells us. When introducing herself and Margot, she says, ‘Margot is like me and she is not like me. I am five and a half, Margot is only four, but she’s tall for her age. We both like cuddles and insects and cuddling insects and we both have freckles and green eyes, like Maman… In the sunlight Maman’s eyes are kaleidoscopes’. The girls are endearing from the outset. Pea describes the way in which ‘Margot dreams about tiny people that live in the cupboards and have parties on Thursdays, and about jigsaws that make themselves’.
Such childish magic has been included that it is difficult not to love the very bones of the girls from the first chapter. Margot quickly assumes the role of mother on their daily rambles: ‘Pea, look at you, you haven’t even got a hat on’, and ‘Today I am the maman, she says, so you will do as you’re told’. The girls have taken it upon themselves to try and find Maman’s lost happiness. ‘There are more than a thousand things in the world,’ Margot reasons, ‘and one of them must make Maman happy’. The girls are self-sufficient and often fix their own meals. They even take it upon themselves, in one particularly sad passage, to wash their clothes as Maman has forgotten to. Their love for Maman, and for each other, is touching.
Whilst on a trip to a nearby meadow to get out of the oppressive house, the girls meet a middle-aged man named Claude, who is inseparable from his dog Merlin. They see him as ‘a strange kind of grownup’, who does as the girls tell him to. He tells them that he knew their Papa, and a relationship of shared memories is built up accordingly. Claude becomes a steady part of their lives, a constant in uncertain times. He has his own sadness to contend with, and tells the girls that he is ‘a bit broken’, but their friendship is all the more strong because of it.
King’s descriptions of the landscapes in The Night Rainbow are a definite strength and, like Pea’s narrative voice, she has captured them perfectly. Many of these observations contain distinctly childish aspects: ‘I try to think about the rain. It is like people clapping, as though the clouds have done something clever… or maybe the swallows have put shoes on and are dancing on our roof’.
Pea and Margot are two of the most realistic childish protagonists I have come across in fiction, and they are distinctly memorable in consequence. The differences in their personalities – Pea is the worrier and Margot the one who reassures, for example: ‘Even though I am biggest she is the bravest’, Pea tells us – have been balanced wonderfully. King has successfully married together the idylls of a childhood lives in the rural South of France with the realities of loss, grief and loneliness. A marvellous debut.
July 6, 2018
Review originally published 5 July 2018 at Falling Letters.
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.
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.
January 7, 2018
“You should be careful with opening doors to secrets, says Claude. Sometimes secrets are secrets because that's the best way.”
"The Night Rainbow", follows Pea and her little sister, Margot as they spend their days running free, inventing games in the meadow behind their house. But Pea starts to worry, because recently her father has died in an accident, and her mother has just lost a baby. Pea's mother is English so she is already isolated in this small French village and begins to retreat even further. Pea and Margot stay out of her way and try to make things better. When Pea and Margot met Claude on one of their outdoor adventures they find that he loves the meadow just as much as them…but Claude is hiding a secret…
King decided to tell this story from Pea's (five and a half year old) perspective. I think it was an overall good choice, but there were times I was a little sick of reading from her perspective. Because of her young age the writing is very choppy, but I did think it was necessary for the story to be told in this way. It all comes down to tastes I suppose. Pea has this wonderful imagination and outlook of the world. She is smart and loves the outdoors. I appreciated how King chose to write her with simple yet profound words. Claude and Margot are also great characters. I was very much invested and wondering how things were going to play out in the end, even though I guessed the "twist" halfway in, it still made for a beautiful story.
Metaphors are something I love in books. This story is certainly full of them aka: the night rainbow. I really think this is a perfect book for a book club to read, because there are so many thought provoking and unanswered questions at the end. Personally, I think this did not hinder the story but made it better. Not all books need to wrap up nicely in the end, but need to make us think about these characters and the authors intent on writing them. How else will they stay with us long after we read about them?
"The Night Rainbow", follows Pea and her little sister, Margot as they spend their days running free, inventing games in the meadow behind their house. But Pea starts to worry, because recently her father has died in an accident, and her mother has just lost a baby. Pea's mother is English so she is already isolated in this small French village and begins to retreat even further. Pea and Margot stay out of her way and try to make things better. When Pea and Margot met Claude on one of their outdoor adventures they find that he loves the meadow just as much as them…but Claude is hiding a secret…
King decided to tell this story from Pea's (five and a half year old) perspective. I think it was an overall good choice, but there were times I was a little sick of reading from her perspective. Because of her young age the writing is very choppy, but I did think it was necessary for the story to be told in this way. It all comes down to tastes I suppose. Pea has this wonderful imagination and outlook of the world. She is smart and loves the outdoors. I appreciated how King chose to write her with simple yet profound words. Claude and Margot are also great characters. I was very much invested and wondering how things were going to play out in the end, even though I guessed the "twist" halfway in, it still made for a beautiful story.
Metaphors are something I love in books. This story is certainly full of them aka: the night rainbow. I really think this is a perfect book for a book club to read, because there are so many thought provoking and unanswered questions at the end. Personally, I think this did not hinder the story but made it better. Not all books need to wrap up nicely in the end, but need to make us think about these characters and the authors intent on writing them. How else will they stay with us long after we read about them?
January 31, 2013
Telling a story, especially an adult story, from the point of view of a child is a very difficult thing to get right. Among authors who have been successful in achieving this are Emma Donoghue in Room, John Boyne in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and John Harding in Florence & Giles. With the publication of The Night Rainbow, Claire King joins their ranks.
Pea and her sister Margot live with their English mother in the south of France. Their French father died a few months previously and maman, heavily pregnant and suffering in the blistering summer heat is physically and emotionally distant. Pea tells us that maman ‘left her happiness in the hospital with the baby,’ a miscarriage from the previous year.
Pea and Margot spend their days playing in the meadow, searching for the one thing that will make their mother happy again and it is here they meet Claude, a mysterious man with a limp and a dog with whom the girls become fast friends.
King uses a mix of language in the book. Through Pea’s eyes we see the meadows and streams as magical places filled with fairies and wonder. But it is the matter of fact way in which Pea deals with her mother’s negligence where the author’s talents really shine. The way Ms King shows us how a five year old child interprets her mother’s depression is skillful and believable and my heart went out to Pea. I longed to cook her a good meal and give her a hug.
Pea and Margot are characters who stay with you, long after the last page is turned and it is testament to Claire King’s talent that I still think about Pea and hope that she, Maman -and Margot - are happy.
Pea and her sister Margot live with their English mother in the south of France. Their French father died a few months previously and maman, heavily pregnant and suffering in the blistering summer heat is physically and emotionally distant. Pea tells us that maman ‘left her happiness in the hospital with the baby,’ a miscarriage from the previous year.
Pea and Margot spend their days playing in the meadow, searching for the one thing that will make their mother happy again and it is here they meet Claude, a mysterious man with a limp and a dog with whom the girls become fast friends.
King uses a mix of language in the book. Through Pea’s eyes we see the meadows and streams as magical places filled with fairies and wonder. But it is the matter of fact way in which Pea deals with her mother’s negligence where the author’s talents really shine. The way Ms King shows us how a five year old child interprets her mother’s depression is skillful and believable and my heart went out to Pea. I longed to cook her a good meal and give her a hug.
Pea and Margot are characters who stay with you, long after the last page is turned and it is testament to Claire King’s talent that I still think about Pea and hope that she, Maman -and Margot - are happy.
April 23, 2015
This Review was first published on my blog Lecture toute une Aventure
My opinion:
This is really a sweet and moving story, some parts are a little sad but as a whole it ‘s really a great tales about the children’s resources and their view of the world. It’s was quite magical and I could not avoid to tear a little from time to time especially since I understood early the double meaning but it’s not a book you want to give up once started. You get quickly fond of Pea and you want to see her get her happy end and without real spoiler because of the genre you do get one, probably not the one you thought at first but still one.
We should never give up completely our childhood abilities because it’s true that as grownup we can easily forget what is the most important.
The character are well build and you do get attached to them…..Claude really won me in a few pages with his kindness and merlin was for a lot in that early attachment.
I’m really glad to have discovered this book thanks to Lavender Library program because I probably would not have picked that book by myself and it would have been sad decision and it won me over completely. If you like sweet story, don’t mind having to use some tissues and wants to remember all the magic you could see when little this is a book for you I hope you find your own night rainbow.
Disclaimer: Source: a copy in exchange for an honest review in the cadre of the Lavender’s Library program. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review
My opinion:
This is really a sweet and moving story, some parts are a little sad but as a whole it ‘s really a great tales about the children’s resources and their view of the world. It’s was quite magical and I could not avoid to tear a little from time to time especially since I understood early the double meaning but it’s not a book you want to give up once started. You get quickly fond of Pea and you want to see her get her happy end and without real spoiler because of the genre you do get one, probably not the one you thought at first but still one.
We should never give up completely our childhood abilities because it’s true that as grownup we can easily forget what is the most important.
The character are well build and you do get attached to them…..Claude really won me in a few pages with his kindness and merlin was for a lot in that early attachment.
I’m really glad to have discovered this book thanks to Lavender Library program because I probably would not have picked that book by myself and it would have been sad decision and it won me over completely. If you like sweet story, don’t mind having to use some tissues and wants to remember all the magic you could see when little this is a book for you I hope you find your own night rainbow.
Disclaimer: Source: a copy in exchange for an honest review in the cadre of the Lavender’s Library program. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review
January 21, 2013
The Night Rainbow is a wonderfully involving novel that transports the reader to, not only the meadows of France, but also a life of isolation. Everything about Claire King’s debut is questioning and desolate. The reader is left constantly pondering nuances of the melancholy world and the characters. Each member of the cast is a portrait of sadness. They each hold their burdens, none more so than the central character, Pea.
Claire writes about the missing piece of people’s lives with a sharp accuracy. It is the lost baby and husband that drives Pea’s mother into the darkest places and the loss of her father has pushed Pea into her mind – somewhere that can be confusing for a five year old. The connection with Claude is a welcome one as he becomes a father figure for the girls. There is sweetness to their partnership as Claude builds tree houses for the girls and entertains them. In essence, Claude takes on the reader’s wanted role. There is nothing we can do to shield Pea from the grown up world that is crashing down around her, but we can live through Claude.
The Night Rainbow takes turns through funny, adorable and heartbreaking. This is a novel that will pull at the proverbial heartstrings and play the Funeral March on them. The bleakness is the allure, it is what grips you and takes you through the meadows, over the streams and into the heart of Pea.
Claire writes about the missing piece of people’s lives with a sharp accuracy. It is the lost baby and husband that drives Pea’s mother into the darkest places and the loss of her father has pushed Pea into her mind – somewhere that can be confusing for a five year old. The connection with Claude is a welcome one as he becomes a father figure for the girls. There is sweetness to their partnership as Claude builds tree houses for the girls and entertains them. In essence, Claude takes on the reader’s wanted role. There is nothing we can do to shield Pea from the grown up world that is crashing down around her, but we can live through Claude.
The Night Rainbow takes turns through funny, adorable and heartbreaking. This is a novel that will pull at the proverbial heartstrings and play the Funeral March on them. The bleakness is the allure, it is what grips you and takes you through the meadows, over the streams and into the heart of Pea.
September 9, 2013
The Night Rainbow is a beautifully written tale of childhood wonder told from the perspective of 5-year old Pea, who is living in rural France with her heavily pregnant, widowed mother and her younger sister Margot. Pea's mother has become reclusive and sleeps all the time, with little time for the two girls, and so they make it their challenge to "make Maman happy again". Whilst stories written from the perspective of a child can sometimes be hit or miss, the tone in this story is spot-on, it is extremely well-written and sweet, with it's share of both beautiful poignant moments and tragic sadness. Claire King has exceptional power for descriptive writing, and she truly brings the beauty of the setting and the child's perspective to life in glorious detail, strongly evoking the warmth of the setting, and both the grief and hope in Pea's world. This is a highly recommended read for anyone who enjoys heart-warming tales set in in beautiful locales, with richly drawn characters and setting. A truly beautiful novel.
June 19, 2016
A lovely book that's well written. In points quite moving as well, and sometimes it has something special about it, but not always. To me it also felt like the middle part was a bit long and the ending a bit short, but otherwise a good read.
May 4, 2015
I’ll get this out of the way first: reading The Night Rainbow had a profound effect on how I saw my own childhood and the different narratives of my own life. Sometimes you read a book and it does something to the chemical balance of your brain and you go, ‘Oh!’. Reading this book did that to me. It changed my life. Fiction can do this and it's remarkable.
Claire King has written a novel so delicately paced, so beautifully and often ‘innocently’ written that the style and content are often quite in contrast with each other. This in itself shows her skill as a writer and that writing about dark things can be done with a lightness of touch. It would be easy to mistake that lightness of touch with sweetness or sentimentality, but for me there just isn't any of that in this book at all. It is a book about coping, about how children recreate the world around them to make sense of it and to survive. This book deals with brutal things, and yet...
Pea, the narrator, is five and full of everything a child at that age might be: playing, games, food, fun, story telling, making up answers to adult questions she doesn't understand, trusting and blaming herself for things that go wrong due to adults and bad luck. She is funny, kind, sometimes greedy and always wanting to feel love and affection that her mother is unable to give. She longs for human touch, for the unconditional love we all want and need.
Her relationship with her sister Margot is one of mutual nurturing and teasing, kindness and competition. They egg each other on to be brave, to create mischief, to find the answer of how to make their mother happy again when she can barely get out of bed, let alone give them a hug or a kiss or the warmth they both crave. Many of the sisters' interactions are funny and I laughed several times. Their relationship is bitter sweet and necessary for their survival.
I love how King does all this without making the reader hate the mother. Whenever Pea describes her Maman's efforts, I leant forward in hope for all of the main characters. I know Pea's mother was not neglectful due to cruelty, and that added such pathos to the scenes where Pea thinks she is about to be shown love and some terrible accident, such as smashing a glass, makes her mother retreat and Pea feel deep guilt and shame.
Pea blames herself. She believes she and Margot have the power to make her mother happy; if she just finds the right thing, if she just makes herself perfect. This is heart-breaking and I cried several times at the injustice, inevitability and sadness of it.
The writing itself is full of beautiful imagery, delicious food and scenery, and, in fact, creates a sensory idyll that's impossible not to relish. I am one of those people whose best meals have been in books, and this does not disappoint. I would like to visit the farm, would like to go to the meadow. I would like to sit at the table and eat the salads and the pasta and the fruit, and share the bread. The descriptions are specific and often poignant. It's just excellent writing, that perfect combination of plot, style and thought that I long for in a book and won't stop raving about when I find it.
Without giving away plot, there are some terrific twists, and I love how King plays with the readers prejudices about adults and children and leads us down paths which seem predictable but in fact are anything but. The truth of this story is so much worse than what you start imagining. Pea is a very vulnerable child, and whilst the sweetness is there, her mind and body go to some terrifying places, from which, I wonder, how she will ever return from. Who is Pea as an adult and what is her life like?
There is an overall feeling that things will be okay, and towards the end of the novel, events do show that. It's hard to describe the journey Pea and Margot go through, or how brilliantly King shows the hurts and fears of the adults around them through Pea's own, unknowing eyes, but needless to say The Night Rainbow will be one I buy people as a gift for years to come and say, 'You've got to read this!'
It's so good, so deft, so articulate on human emotions, so deep with ideas about trust and loyalty and pain, about what we do when the world around us is too painful to accept or believe, that you'd think it would be hard going and difficult to stomach. It's not. This is a writer whose sentences gleam brightly, brilliant as Christmas; joyful as wrapped gifts and foil-covered sweets, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what she writes next.
Claire King has written a novel so delicately paced, so beautifully and often ‘innocently’ written that the style and content are often quite in contrast with each other. This in itself shows her skill as a writer and that writing about dark things can be done with a lightness of touch. It would be easy to mistake that lightness of touch with sweetness or sentimentality, but for me there just isn't any of that in this book at all. It is a book about coping, about how children recreate the world around them to make sense of it and to survive. This book deals with brutal things, and yet...
Pea, the narrator, is five and full of everything a child at that age might be: playing, games, food, fun, story telling, making up answers to adult questions she doesn't understand, trusting and blaming herself for things that go wrong due to adults and bad luck. She is funny, kind, sometimes greedy and always wanting to feel love and affection that her mother is unable to give. She longs for human touch, for the unconditional love we all want and need.
Her relationship with her sister Margot is one of mutual nurturing and teasing, kindness and competition. They egg each other on to be brave, to create mischief, to find the answer of how to make their mother happy again when she can barely get out of bed, let alone give them a hug or a kiss or the warmth they both crave. Many of the sisters' interactions are funny and I laughed several times. Their relationship is bitter sweet and necessary for their survival.
I love how King does all this without making the reader hate the mother. Whenever Pea describes her Maman's efforts, I leant forward in hope for all of the main characters. I know Pea's mother was not neglectful due to cruelty, and that added such pathos to the scenes where Pea thinks she is about to be shown love and some terrible accident, such as smashing a glass, makes her mother retreat and Pea feel deep guilt and shame.
Pea blames herself. She believes she and Margot have the power to make her mother happy; if she just finds the right thing, if she just makes herself perfect. This is heart-breaking and I cried several times at the injustice, inevitability and sadness of it.
The writing itself is full of beautiful imagery, delicious food and scenery, and, in fact, creates a sensory idyll that's impossible not to relish. I am one of those people whose best meals have been in books, and this does not disappoint. I would like to visit the farm, would like to go to the meadow. I would like to sit at the table and eat the salads and the pasta and the fruit, and share the bread. The descriptions are specific and often poignant. It's just excellent writing, that perfect combination of plot, style and thought that I long for in a book and won't stop raving about when I find it.
Without giving away plot, there are some terrific twists, and I love how King plays with the readers prejudices about adults and children and leads us down paths which seem predictable but in fact are anything but. The truth of this story is so much worse than what you start imagining. Pea is a very vulnerable child, and whilst the sweetness is there, her mind and body go to some terrifying places, from which, I wonder, how she will ever return from. Who is Pea as an adult and what is her life like?
There is an overall feeling that things will be okay, and towards the end of the novel, events do show that. It's hard to describe the journey Pea and Margot go through, or how brilliantly King shows the hurts and fears of the adults around them through Pea's own, unknowing eyes, but needless to say The Night Rainbow will be one I buy people as a gift for years to come and say, 'You've got to read this!'
It's so good, so deft, so articulate on human emotions, so deep with ideas about trust and loyalty and pain, about what we do when the world around us is too painful to accept or believe, that you'd think it would be hard going and difficult to stomach. It's not. This is a writer whose sentences gleam brightly, brilliant as Christmas; joyful as wrapped gifts and foil-covered sweets, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what she writes next.
April 30, 2018
Halverwege viel het kwartje opeens bij mij, met betrekking tot het personage Margot. Het was een verdrietig en fantasierijk boek en het kindperspectief maakte het zo nu en dan extra schrijnend, maar tegelijkertijd hield dat perspectief naar mijn idee de vaart wat uit het verhaal. Het leek de schrijfster te beperken: balletjes werden opgegooid, maar konden door het perspectief van een bijna zesjarig meisje niet verder uitgelegd worden, waardoor ze niets toevoegden aan het verhaal. Daarnaast was de schrijfster soms niet in staat het perspectief realistisch te houden, waardoor de gedachten en gevolgtrekkingen niet bij het meisje Pea pasten.
January 31, 2016
Feel good roman met een ondertoon van het werkelijke leven. In prachtige poëtische zinnen wordt het leven op het platteland in Frankrijk beschreven. De zon brand op je huid, de stof komt van de paden, de velden vol met bloemen. Dit boek is de debuut roman van Claire King, die na haar studie economie aan Cambridge en twintig jaar in het bedrijfsleven heeft gewerkt. Daarnaast is een bekroond schrijfster van korte verhalen. Momenteel woont ze in Zuid-Frankrijk, in de Langedoc Ruissillon met haar man en twee kinderen. Het kennen van het leven in Frankrijk spreekt uit de zinnen in deze roman.
De cover laat je de regenboog zien, de boog van hoop met een enkel meisje op een schommel, alleen. De achterflap laat je heel nieuwsgierig achter. Wat gaat er in dit boek gebeuren?
Pea en haar "zusje"Margot hebben hun vader verloren. Hij kwam onder de tractor, het was een ongeluk. Voor hun moeder was dit de volgende tragedie. Ze kan dit niet goed verwerken en is wel "chagarijnig". Verder heeft ze een nieuwe baby in haar buik en kan daardoor moeilijk moeder zijn voor hun totdat het baby'tje uit het deurtje komt zoals Margot zegt.
Ze gaan niet naar school en proberen er met hun kinderlijk begrip en fantasie wat van te maken. Tijdens een spelletje in het veld leren ze Claude kennen, en zijn hond Merlin. Hij woont in de buurt en er ontstaat en vriendschap tussen de kinderen en Claude.
Daarnaast breekt Pea haar hoofd waar ze toch een nieuwe Papa kan vinden want die is gezellig en doet leuke dingen met hun en helpt Maman.
Ondanks dat Pea heel wat te verstouwen heeft is de veerkracht wat de boventoon voert.
Ze probeert elke dag weer een strategie te bedenken waardoor ze haar Maman aan het lachen krijgt.
Maar gedurende de pagina's duren wordt ik wel wat kwaad op deze Maman. Dat ze zo blind is dat ze niet ziet dat ze nog een kind heeft. Dat ze nog steeds de landstaal niet goed spreekt waardoor ze een eenling blijft in het dorp en waardoor ook haar kind een eenling blijft. De verschil van houding van Claude en Maman, hoe ze een tragedie verwerken en een plaats in hun leven geven is enorm.
Er zijn tijdens deze feel good leesclub meerdere keren opmerkingen gemaakt als Pea is vroeg wijs en Margot nog meer. Hoe weten ze bepaalde woorden en hebben ze wijsheid? Voor mij was het geen vraag maar een gegeven. Ten eerste heeft Pea enorm veel meegemaakt en heeft ze al een tijdje voor zichzelf moeten zorgen. Daar wordt je wel vroegwijs van. Ten tweede is Pea bijna 6, Ten derde zou ze ook een hoogbegaafd kind kunnen zijn. Maar eigenlijk maken deze opmerkingen niets uit. De schrijfster heeft dichterlijke vrijheid aangaande het creëren van een personage en ik ben weg van Pea. Ik zou haar wel willen knuffelen.
cover: 9
sluit goed aan bij het boek.
karakters: 9
in ieder hoofdstuk komt van elk hoofdpersonages meer naar boven. Het schetst een mooi portet wat het boek ten goede komt
zingebruik: 10
prachtige poëtische zinnen. je voelt de warmte van de Franse zon. Het dilemma van Pea, Maman en Claude is goed uitgewerkt zodat je ook emoties krijgt bij het lezen van dit boek.
verhaalopbouw: 10
Je wilt gewoon weten of het goedkomt met Pea, Margot, Maman en Claude en hoe.
samen zijn de punten 38 wat maakt dat dit boek gemiddeld op een 9,5 van mij kan rekenen.
Ik ben een positief persoon dus ik reken het om naar 5 sterren.
Ik kan niet wachten tot een volgend boek van deze schrijfster.
Recensie ook verschenen op : Hebban/Dizzie/ Bol.com en op mijn Facebook site
De cover laat je de regenboog zien, de boog van hoop met een enkel meisje op een schommel, alleen. De achterflap laat je heel nieuwsgierig achter. Wat gaat er in dit boek gebeuren?
Pea en haar "zusje"Margot hebben hun vader verloren. Hij kwam onder de tractor, het was een ongeluk. Voor hun moeder was dit de volgende tragedie. Ze kan dit niet goed verwerken en is wel "chagarijnig". Verder heeft ze een nieuwe baby in haar buik en kan daardoor moeilijk moeder zijn voor hun totdat het baby'tje uit het deurtje komt zoals Margot zegt.
Ze gaan niet naar school en proberen er met hun kinderlijk begrip en fantasie wat van te maken. Tijdens een spelletje in het veld leren ze Claude kennen, en zijn hond Merlin. Hij woont in de buurt en er ontstaat en vriendschap tussen de kinderen en Claude.
Daarnaast breekt Pea haar hoofd waar ze toch een nieuwe Papa kan vinden want die is gezellig en doet leuke dingen met hun en helpt Maman.
Ondanks dat Pea heel wat te verstouwen heeft is de veerkracht wat de boventoon voert.
Ze probeert elke dag weer een strategie te bedenken waardoor ze haar Maman aan het lachen krijgt.
Maar gedurende de pagina's duren wordt ik wel wat kwaad op deze Maman. Dat ze zo blind is dat ze niet ziet dat ze nog een kind heeft. Dat ze nog steeds de landstaal niet goed spreekt waardoor ze een eenling blijft in het dorp en waardoor ook haar kind een eenling blijft. De verschil van houding van Claude en Maman, hoe ze een tragedie verwerken en een plaats in hun leven geven is enorm.
Er zijn tijdens deze feel good leesclub meerdere keren opmerkingen gemaakt als Pea is vroeg wijs en Margot nog meer. Hoe weten ze bepaalde woorden en hebben ze wijsheid? Voor mij was het geen vraag maar een gegeven. Ten eerste heeft Pea enorm veel meegemaakt en heeft ze al een tijdje voor zichzelf moeten zorgen. Daar wordt je wel vroegwijs van. Ten tweede is Pea bijna 6, Ten derde zou ze ook een hoogbegaafd kind kunnen zijn. Maar eigenlijk maken deze opmerkingen niets uit. De schrijfster heeft dichterlijke vrijheid aangaande het creëren van een personage en ik ben weg van Pea. Ik zou haar wel willen knuffelen.
cover: 9
sluit goed aan bij het boek.
karakters: 9
in ieder hoofdstuk komt van elk hoofdpersonages meer naar boven. Het schetst een mooi portet wat het boek ten goede komt
zingebruik: 10
prachtige poëtische zinnen. je voelt de warmte van de Franse zon. Het dilemma van Pea, Maman en Claude is goed uitgewerkt zodat je ook emoties krijgt bij het lezen van dit boek.
verhaalopbouw: 10
Je wilt gewoon weten of het goedkomt met Pea, Margot, Maman en Claude en hoe.
samen zijn de punten 38 wat maakt dat dit boek gemiddeld op een 9,5 van mij kan rekenen.
Ik ben een positief persoon dus ik reken het om naar 5 sterren.
Ik kan niet wachten tot een volgend boek van deze schrijfster.
Recensie ook verschenen op : Hebban/Dizzie/ Bol.com en op mijn Facebook site
Read
May 9, 2013Pea and Margot are lonely. Their beloved Papa has died in a tragic accident, and Maman is exhausted with grief and with the extra exertion that comes in a woman’s final few months of pregnancy. The girls do everything possible to help their mother – stay out of the house, clean up, make meals, and take care of themselves while Maman sleeps – but her despair seems to grow. Rescue from their own growing despondency comes in the form of a mysterious man. He looks scary but is not and soon provides them the love and friendship they so desperately crave – not to mention nourishment and supervision. However, Claude has his own secrets, and others do not take quite as kindly to his help as Pea and Margot do. As Maman nears the end of her pregnancy, the girls find themselves immersed in an adult feud that they not only cannot understand but which frightens them. Claire King’s The Night Rainbow explores the girls’ search for happiness and understanding in a world left bereft after Papa’s death and Maman’s ongoing depression.
The synopsis of The Night Rainbow sounds incredibly depressing, but the story itself is surprisingly upbeat and cheerful. Pea is a delightful narrator. Her narrative is simple and age-appropriate, as she shares Margot’s and her thought processes on how they can help Maman feel good enough to get out of bed and take care of them. At age five, her grasp of the adult side of things is severely limited, yet her observation skills are excellent and she shares more with a reader than she realizes or comprehends. The childish sense of hope and faith never wavers even through Pea’s darker moments, making this very tragic story something wonderful to experience.
Ms. King’s prose is absolutely gorgeous. She captures the spectacular setting with clear and precise descriptions that evoke all five senses, but she does so in such a way that makes it obvious that the descriptions are from Pea’s viewpoint. She imbues the most innocuous things with a twinge of fear while she styles other things, that which adults might find uncomfortable, with wonder and astonishment. This not only confirms Pea’s place in the story but adds a large-than-life element to the entire setting that fits perfectly with the story at large.
The Night Rainbow is not flashy nor is it all that exciting. It is, however, an excellent study about the grieving process and an absolutely beautiful story about the preciousness of a child’s unwavering love and loyalty. The plot reveals itself slowly, in delicate layers that enhance the emotional upheaval Pea feels throughout the story. Speaking of Pea, she charms readers with her childhood innocence and desperate yearning. As each puzzle pieces fall into place, readers get the chance to understand everything that Pea cannot and the full picture is truly agonizing in its depths. Yet, Pea’s dogged optimism in light of the ongoing tragedy makes her the type of child character with whom readers fall in love and The Night Rainbow the type of novel that will haunt readers long after finishing it.
The synopsis of The Night Rainbow sounds incredibly depressing, but the story itself is surprisingly upbeat and cheerful. Pea is a delightful narrator. Her narrative is simple and age-appropriate, as she shares Margot’s and her thought processes on how they can help Maman feel good enough to get out of bed and take care of them. At age five, her grasp of the adult side of things is severely limited, yet her observation skills are excellent and she shares more with a reader than she realizes or comprehends. The childish sense of hope and faith never wavers even through Pea’s darker moments, making this very tragic story something wonderful to experience.
Ms. King’s prose is absolutely gorgeous. She captures the spectacular setting with clear and precise descriptions that evoke all five senses, but she does so in such a way that makes it obvious that the descriptions are from Pea’s viewpoint. She imbues the most innocuous things with a twinge of fear while she styles other things, that which adults might find uncomfortable, with wonder and astonishment. This not only confirms Pea’s place in the story but adds a large-than-life element to the entire setting that fits perfectly with the story at large.
The Night Rainbow is not flashy nor is it all that exciting. It is, however, an excellent study about the grieving process and an absolutely beautiful story about the preciousness of a child’s unwavering love and loyalty. The plot reveals itself slowly, in delicate layers that enhance the emotional upheaval Pea feels throughout the story. Speaking of Pea, she charms readers with her childhood innocence and desperate yearning. As each puzzle pieces fall into place, readers get the chance to understand everything that Pea cannot and the full picture is truly agonizing in its depths. Yet, Pea’s dogged optimism in light of the ongoing tragedy makes her the type of child character with whom readers fall in love and The Night Rainbow the type of novel that will haunt readers long after finishing it.
November 23, 2017
"You can't mend everything that gets broken."
Its one of the best birthday present I could ever ask for. Some books make your heart open in such a way you didn't know was possible. The Night Rainbow is a very special book. Pea is a character you'll get attached to very easily. I fell in love with the author's writing style.
To read from a child's perspective changes the way you think and feel.
Its one of the best birthday present I could ever ask for. Some books make your heart open in such a way you didn't know was possible. The Night Rainbow is a very special book. Pea is a character you'll get attached to very easily. I fell in love with the author's writing style.
To read from a child's perspective changes the way you think and feel.
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