Rainbow Milk

A Novel

By: Paul Mendez

Narrated by: Paul Mendez

Nominated for a 34th annual Lambda Literary Award • An essential and revelatory coming-of-age narrative from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing.

"The kind of novel you never knew you were waiting for." —Marlon James


In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country.

At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity, and turns to sex work, music and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity and spirituality.

A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures.

Loved This Novel

This audiobook is one of my favorites! Paul Mendez does an AMAZING job of reading with different accents to bring the story to life! The story, over several generations, is touching! Despite being a gay white male, I could relate to the story in several different aspects! I just finished it and I already miss the characters!

a must listen

I can't say enough about how deeply i felt this book. i mean whew! it's a lot to take in. so much emotion poured into it, so honest and open. it expresses aspects of Blackness that as a Black person you have absolutely thought and felt from childhood on. things you absolutely know and have experienced. it takes all those things and articulates them in the most raw and touching ways. bravo! and truly the reading is *excellent* I'm telling anyone i can who has read but not heard it to also read it via audio. great job, Paul Mendez!

A breath of fresh air

This book was a refreshing read. Loved it! I could definitely relate to the themes within this book.

Refreshing

A beautifully complex story with various life themes that felt cozy and familiar. I enjoyed the character development and the performance was superb.

5 ✨

This was everything I wanted. The narration was beautiful. I enjoyed this book more and more as I kept on going deeper into the story! Boy does Paul Mendez know how to bloody narrate a book😅. I can’t recommend this book enough and particularly the audio version