An outrageously witty tragicomedy-of-manners about a queer black teenager coming of age, introduced by Mendez, author of Rainbow Milk.

When a peacock's days are over, they're over.

Oliver is precocious, black and gay. He reads Baudelaire, plays with his pet peacock, eats smoked oysters and fends off the maid Della Mae whenever she gets the 'Nasties'. He lives in rural Michigan with two elderly ladies: the white, wealthy Etta and her devoted housekeeper, Harry, his aunt. When a psychic warlock named Maurice LeFleur comes to stay, however, promising to contact the ghost of Etta's dead son, their eccentric household starts to fall apart.

First published in 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, this sparklingly witty debut novel is a radically hopeful vision of racial integration and sexual acceptance that was years ahead of its time.

Details

ISBN13: 9780571391776
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 192
Edition: Main
Publication Date: 04 Aug 2026
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x12.9(L)
Weight (gm):

Author Biography

Henry Van Dyke (1928 - 2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. He served in the Army in occupied Germany before beginning to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. He taught creative writing at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993. Van Dyke wrote four novels.

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