"A striking story of unbelievable cruelty and mettle, told in startling language and laced with gentle humor. . .L.P. should go down in history as one of the all-time true survivors." -- Scott Campbell, author of Touched
"Brutally gorgeous, triumphantly lyrical, and unmistakably brilliant." -- Kate Braverman, author of Squandering the Blue
In a debut novel of startling lyrical power, author Donald Rawley re-creates the long, hot Southwestern summer of 1968 through the eyes of ten-year-old Lindsay Paul ("L.P.") Fowler—a hard, pretty, and effeminate only child in a wealthy Arizona family. Abandoned without warning by his self-involved mother and cruel, dictatorial grandmother, L.P. is sent off to spend a magical summer with Betty, his grandmother's maid, in black South Phoenix. A former jazz singer at war with inner demons of her own, Betty is the only adult in L.P.'s small universe with room in her heart for the troubled boy—offering him a friendship born of shared pain. And in a remarkable season of fever dreams, betrayals, loss, and rude sexual awakenings, L.P. will learn much about the fragile masks grown-ups hide behind and the weapons they use to wound, setting him free for flight, like the unseen night birds, singing in the dark.
"Rawley's writing blazes unapologetically fecund and startling, like some kind of bird of paradise from Mars. It is a literary movement in itself."
--Sandra Tsing Loh
"Donald Rawley is the literary equivalent of amyl nitrate. Reading this searing talent may give you a heart attack, but you'll die with a twisted, sated smile of gratitude on your lips."
--Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight
"Rawley's style is sumptuous and baroque. He has an uncanny knack for making the bizarre beautiful and for capturing the pathos and peculiar dignity of characters who wouldn't ordinarily command respect."
--The Observer (London)
"A deeply felt … first novel by the recently deceased Rawley, a poet whod been a contributing editor at Buzz, chronicles a ten-year-old boy's lonely but transformative summer spent with his family's maid. This portrait of a child's powerlessness and capacity for wonder is poignant."
--Kirkus (regarding The Night Bird Cantata)
