The Lavender Child, Saskatoon author Harriet Richards’s award-winning first novel, is set to entertain and delight another generation of readers in a brand-new edition
A brand-new edition of Saskatoon author Harriet Richards’s The Lavender Child, originally published by Thistledown Books 1997, winner of the Best First Book Award and a finalist for the Fiction Award at the 1998 Saskatchewan Book Awards, is set to entertain and enthrall readers anew when it releases December 17 from Regina’s Shadowpaw Press Reprise.
Notably, the cover of the book features a painting by the author, who is also an artist.
“I am delighted to welcome the second edition of The Lavender Child, my first book, which was released a generation ago,” Richards says. “This has been a discovery of forgotten memories: notes and scenes, the small studio where I wrote, and the characters, both drawn from real life and invented, who came to inhabit a fictional world.”
“It’s always a pleasure to be able to offer new life to notable, previously published work, and I am particularly happy to be able to present this wonderful novel to a new generation of readers,” says Edward Willett. “I’m sure they’ll enjoy spending a virtual year with the unforgettable Protheroe family as much as I did.”
More about The Lavender Child
A year in the lives, dreams, and awakenings of the Protheroe family . . .
Like most families, the Protheroes live together but dream in solitude: daydreams, night dreams, and the reveries of memory. Although much love connects them, they are alone within themselves, as are we all, each orbiting a unique inner sun coalescing from the raw material of birth and circumstance.
The much-anticipated arrival of a new baby, affectionally called the Bump, affects them all in both their dreams and waking life, but their expectations are upended when Dion is born brain-damaged. Despite that twist of fate, the new addition soon becomes a powerful influence on his parents, his five sisters, and his grandparents.
As the year unfolds, the reader travels through the minds of three generations: a group of wonderfully individual people who define family in a wholly original way.
Praise for The Lavender Child
“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 Child is written with the carefully measured artistry of Carol Shields.”—Quill and Quire
About the author
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.
About Shadowpaw Press
Shadowpaw Press, located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, was founded in 2018 by award-winning author Edward Willett. Shadowpaw Press is a member of Literary Press Group (Canada) and the Association of Canadian Publishers and publishes an eclectic selection of books by both new and established authors, including adult fiction, young adult fiction, children’s books, non-fiction, and anthologies. Its Shadowpaw Press Reprise imprint has produced several new editions of notable, previously published works.
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