Richard Stanford

Set in post-WWII Montréal, Rainbow Street follows the intertwined lives of Adam Sand and his troubled young neighbor Nicholas Schlott. Their stories unfold against the backdrop of a neighbourhood of veterans' homes, each painted in a different bright colour by the veterans as their way of creating a new vibrant world after six years of the monotones of war, the street earning the nickname Rainbow Street.
Beneath the colours lies a community scarred by trauma and loss. From the moment the three-year old Nicholas arrives on Rainbow Street, "without a name and without a past, " he forms a bond with Adam who becomes a protective older brother figure. This friendship offers Nicholas a fragile lifeline in the midst of neglect and emotional upheaval. Their friendship endures throughout the twenty-year span of the novel as together they navigate through the tumultuous 60's.
Rainbow Street is more than neighbourhood; it is a metaphor of memory, and the redemptive power of art and human possibility.