Rainbow Street

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. Richard is a photographer, filmmaker and writer living in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Québec. His photography has been exhibited at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Vehicule Art Gallery Arbor Gallery, Skelly Gallery, Cornwall Art Gallery, Abbey for the Arts, and Critical Eye Gallery. He has written and directed 50 documentary films and feature films. The Adirondack Review, Montage, P.O.V., Canada's History Magazine and Ovi Magazine have published his stories and essays.