Charis welcomes Maggie Thrash in conversation with Millie De Chirico for a celebration of Rainbow Black: A Novel. For readers of Donna Tartt and Ottessa Moshfegh comes a brilliant, deliriously entertaining novel from the acclaimed author of Honor Girl. Rainbow Black is part murder mystery, part gay international fugitive love story—set against the ’90s Satanic Panic and spanning 20 years in the life of a young woman pulled into its undertow.

Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center.

Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.

As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.

Rainbow Black is an addictive, searing, high-octane triumph, an imaginative tour de force about one woman’s tireless desire to be free.

Maggie Thrash is a lesbian writer wrestling with important themes, including sexuality, transphobia, and identity. She is unafraid of plumbing dark waters with an off-kilter humor and storytelling bravado reminiscent of the writing of Nell Zink, Alissa Nutting, Donna Tartt, and Ottessa Moshfegh, as well as TV series such as euphoria, Skins, Yellowjackets, Bad Sisters, and Fleabag. Besides Honor Girl, she is the author of Lost Soul, Be At Peace, as well as two other novels for young adults.Born and raised in Atlanta, she now lives in New Hampshire. For more on Maggie and her work, visit: https://www.maggiethrash.com/

Millie De Chirico is a film programmer, writer, and teacher currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her book, TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema, was released in October 2022 by Running Press. She is also the co-host of the weekly film podcast, I Saw What You Did, on the Exactly Right Network.

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Rainbow Black: Maggie Thrash in conversation with Millie De Chirico