Colored Television

Jane Gibson once felt destined for literary greatness. Nine years into a sprawling second novel and living in a borrowed glass house in the hills, she’s trying to keep her marriage to Lenny intact, shepherd their two children—Ruby, resilient and imaginative, and Finn, a stargazer from a self-declared “Finn planet”—and forge meaning in a city that glitters by day and haunts by night. When a powerful television producer, Hampton Ford, invites Jane to translate her voice to the screen, she glimpses a life beyond stalled drafts and mounting bills. What follows is a suspenseful dance between Hollywood opportunity and artistic integrity: brainstorming sessions that turn into pills and all-nighters, a Labradoodle pilot with teeth, and a show bible that looks suspiciously like her life’s work—without her name on it. As friends return, houses vanish, and a nursing-home apartment becomes sanctuary, Jane faces the oldest American stories: the pull of race and passing, the ache of want, and the precarious balance between creative ambition and love. Colored Television turns the lens on how a family endures—patched by private jokes and backyard jazz, held together by art and appetite—and asks what it means to survive misrecognition and still claim your voice.

• Readers of contemporary literary fiction that interrogates race, class, and creative ambition
• Artists, academics, and caregivers balancing family, art, and precarious work
• Fans of sharp, cinematic storytelling about Los Angeles and the entertainment industry

Danzy Senna is the author of four previous works of fiction, including the bestselling Caucasia and, most recently, New People, as well as a memoir. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she teaches writing at the University of Southern California.