Beyond the Rainbow

By: James S. Bergquist

Ethan Richardson and Marissa Matson are young adults when they meet in Boston. Although they never marry, they have a baby girl named Allison. Their relationship is a tumultuous one, fraught with raging arguments and hostility. Marissa returns home to Burlington, Vermont. Ethan decides to stay in Boston to continue his work as a crew member on a commercial fishing boat called The American Dream.

After years apart, Ethan moves to Burlington, hoping to have a normal relationship with Marissa and be a loving father to Allison. Upon relocating to Burlington, Marissa, who suffers from depression and drug use, confides to him that she sexually assaulted Allison when Allison was a toddler.

Ethan threatens to have Marissa arrested. Afraid that Ethan will call the police and that she will go to jail and lose Allison, Marissa turns the tables on Ethan. She manipulates Allison, then six years old, into falsely accusing Ethan of sexually assaulting her.

The story follows Ethan's arrest, trial, and conviction. It chronicles his transformation from a loving father to a convict in an inhumane, dysfunctional prison system, where he counts days one by one, struggling to keep hope alive that the truth of his innocence will prevail.

Beyond the Rainbow is a gut-wrenching story with unforgettable characters that will linger with the reader long after finishing the book.