Description:
Ten haunting tales of ordinary lives cracked open by heartaches, spectral visitations, forbidden desires, and the quiet violence of human connection, filled with dark humour, poignant insight, and the raw poetry of the everyday.
Brief description: Harriet Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario, as the fifth of seven children to a Welsh father and an American mother. Her family relocated to the prairies during her childhood. Initially pursuing a career as a visual artist, her creative focus shifted when an obstinate painting, inspired by a recurring dream, evolved into her first short story.Richards is the author of three acclaimed works of fiction. The Lavender Child (1998) was a finalist for the Fiction Award and won the First Book Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Waiting for the Piano Tuner to Die (2003) was a finalist for Book of the Year, and The Pious Robber (2013) was also a finalist for Book of the Year and won the Fiction Award. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals in Canada and Wales, and her paintings have been featured on book covers in both countries.Richards has guided emerging writers through the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild and edited numerous works of fiction and literary essays for authors across Canada. She resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Review Quotes:
"Richards, at her best when she enters psychological terrain, maps psychic contours with chilling accuracy and eerie pulchritude . . . A piano tuner adjusts the instrument's strings to ensure it sounds harmonious. The same might be said of Richards's talent for creating organically unified short fictions of the first order." - The Globe and Mail
"In Waiting for the Piano Tuner to Die, Harriet Richards has once again proven her considerable skill as a writer of literary fiction. Her first book, The Lavender Child, a quiet but shimmering novel concerning three generations of one family, showcased Richards' knack for characterization . . . the author has followed up with a collection of stories that holds its own among the best in the genre." - Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
"While lyrical and affecting, there is nothing precious, nothing sensational in this collection." - Planet: The Welsh Internationalist