Rainwood House Sings Cover

Rainwood House Sings

A social justice mystery by Juliana Barnet

with Sophie Barnet-Higgins

2nd Edition With a new Foreword by actor-activist Danny Glover

RAINWOOD HOUSE SINGS, book one in the Rainwood House Series, follows Demetrius, Marley, Samantha, and Rainwood House itself, as they delve into mysteries great and small in the course of seeking truth and justice, as they start a friendship club, a people’s history museum, and a unique refuge for activists fleeing persecution.

The Rainwood House series is a Fiction Featuring Activists project of Protect Our Activists. Fiction Featuring Activists promotes engaging and truthful fiction about the fascinating, ferocious, funny and inspiring lives of activists living in the belly of the Beast while struggling to transform it.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND groundskeeper and ex union activist Marlie Mendíval faces mounting bills, a lecherous boss, and boatloads of self-doubt. Keeping her going are her quirky nine-year-old granddaughter, Samantha, and ramshackle Rainwood House, full of musical plumbing, burgeoning houseplants, and whispers of bygone racial justice struggles.

Good-natured radical horticulturist Demetrius moves in, offering Marlie friendly conversation and comfort cooking. She feels almost able to face her ex’s eviction threats, her sudden notoriety as a campus movement leader, and Samantha’s wrangles with a fundamentalist classmate.

Until she discovers Demetrius is in hiding — accused of shooting a white policeman. A fugitive in her house! Of course she must turn him in!

But will that bring justice?

Should she instead risk hiding him and helping him find the truth?

Folks say good things about Rainwood House Sings: