playground zero
a novel
Available wherever books are sold
playground zero
a family's journey through 1960s Berkeley
When the Raysons leave D.C. for the gathering anarchy of Berkeley, each embraces the moment in a freewheeling city marked by beauty and the berserk. As family and school fade away in a tear-gas fog, young Alice feels an ambiguous freedom in the 1960s counterculture, as Telegraph Avenue beckons. Alice could become another casualty―or she could come through to her developing life. But first, she must find her way through a new world where street signs hang backward and there’s a bootleg candy called Orange Sunshine.
2021 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Literary
2021 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Social Issues
“This intense retrospective on people yanked out of the strait-laced Fifties and tossed into a culture of anything goes will appeal to readers wanting to learn more about Berkeley’s days of rage.” — G. J. Berger, Historical Novel Society
“Playground Zero is an exceptional piece of literary fiction that puts Sarah Relyea in a league of her own. The characters are unique and authentic to the era and geography.” — Readers’ Favorite (5-star review)
“An eerily compelling déjà vu of the free, wild, and jeopardy-ridden kid scene in late-1960s Berkeley. Uncanny and powerful.” — Charles Degelman, Editor, Harvard Square Editions
“This is a powerful, historical drama. Well constructed.” — Readers’ Favorite (5-star review)
Sarah Relyea
Born in Washington, D.C., Sarah grew up in Berkeley during the counterculture movement of the 1960s. As a young girl, she went to the infamous Altamont concert and frequented Telegraph Avenue. She would soon swap California’s psychedelic scene to study English literature at Harvard. Sarah is the author of Playground Zero, a work of literary fiction, and Outsider Citizens: The Remaking of Postwar Identity in Wright, Beauvoir, and Baldwin. She remains bicoastal, living in Brooklyn and spending time on the West Coast.
