Description:
A year in the lives, dreams, and awakenings of the Protheroe family. Baby Dion, brain-damaged at birth, becomes a sweet and powerful influence on his parents, his five sisters, and his grandparents.
Brief description: Harriet Richards's creative reality was as a visual artist until an obstinate painting, based on a recurrent dream, insisted on becoming a short story. She has since published three books of fiction. The Lavender Childwas nominated for the Fiction Award and won the First Book Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards in 1998. Waiting for the Piano Tuner to Die (coming out in a new edition from Shadowpaw Press Reprise in 2025) was nominated for Book of the Year at the 2003 Saskatchewan Book Awards, and in 2003, The Pious Robber was nominated for Book of the Year and won the Fiction Award. Her short fiction has been published in literary journals in Canada and Wales, and her paintings have appeared on book covers in both countries. She has mentored emerging writers through the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild and has edited numerous books of fiction and literary essays for writers across Canada.
Review Quotes:
"The Lavender Child reminds me of the best of Anne Tyler and Barbara Kingsolver, confident, witty, tender and smart . . . An auspicious debut, sassy, clear-eyed and beautifully told."--Sandra Birdsell
"Three generations are connected in ways deeper than they understand . . . The Lavender Child has a voice that is vibrant, clever and tender."--Saskatchewan Book Awards judges
"Saskatchewan writer Harriet Richards sails smoothly along many streams of consciousness, taking you inside her characters' minds. We decode the intricacies of each personality--their fears, desires, weaknesses, regrets . . . The Lavender Child is tender, confident and clever. As Richards's first novel, it is a triumph."--Saskatoon Star Phoenix
"Harriet Richards writes with conviction and wit, and with a pleasingly deft sense of timing."--Planet - the Welsh Internationalist
". . . The Lavender Childis written with the carefully measured artistry of Carol Shields."--Quill and Quire