Written in an engaging lilt reminiscent of Roddy Doyle, The Rainbow Singer introduces readers to an utterly distinctive new voice in fiction. The narrator of this harrowing and hilarious novel is Wil Carson, a "no-hoper from the backstreets of East Belfast, " and an unusual character to be found roughed up in a Wisconsin penitentiary. From behind bars, Wil tells of his life as a teenage Irish loyalist/terrorist, rejecting the prejudices he held against Catholics, or "Taigs, " and sardonically reflecting on the mixed bag of blessings and curses that have made up his life to date.