Red in the Rainbow by Lynn Carneson

Second Hand 

Red in the Rainbow is a story of humanity in the face of political turmoil. Fred and Sarah Carneson were fiercely committed members of the Communist Party from the 1930s onwards. Dedicated activists in brutal times, theirs is a story of political persecution, prolonged separation and enduring love.

Lynn Carneson, their daughter, candidly narrates the terror, the pain and the joy of her extraordinary life as the child of such dedicated freedom fighters, revealing how, despite endless campaigning, financial difficulty, emotional breakdown, banning, torture and imprisonment, the family managed to stay together.

Based on personal recollection as well as letters, official records and newspaper articles, Lynn describes her parents’ underground work and their involvement in watershed events such as the Treason Trial and the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. She evokes the tension of secretive operations and the family’s constant surveillance by security police, as well as the trauma of her father’s trial and prison sentence. Lynn vividly recounts their life as exiles in London and their long-awaited return to South Africa in 1991.

Red in the Rainbow not only invokes Fred and Sarah’s lifelong political struggles and triumphs in gripping detail, but also tells a poignant human story of endurance, courage and the survival of a marriage against all odds.