An old man lies dying. Confined to bed in his living room, he sees the walls around him begin to collapse, the windows come loose, and the ceiling plaster fall off in great chunks, showering him with a lifetime of debris: newspaper clippings, old photographs, and the mangled brass works of antique clocks. Soon, the clouds from the sky above plummet down, followed by the stars, till the black night covers him like a shroud. He is hallucinating, in death throes from cancer and kidney failure. A methodical repairer of clocks, he is now finally released from the usual constraints of time and memory to rejoin his father, an epileptic, itinerant peddler, whom he had lost seven decades before. In his return to the wonder and pain of his impoverished childhood in the backwoods of Maine, he recovers a natural world that is at once indifferent to man and inseparable from him, menacing and awe-inspiring. (Backcover text)

Kirjailija

Paul Harding (s. 1967) on yhdysvaltalainen muusikko ja kirjailija, jonka esikoisromaani Tinkers (2009) on palkittu vuoden 2010 Pulitzerin kirjallisuuspalkinnolla. Harding oli kaksi albumia julkaisseen Cold Water Flat -nimisen yhtyeen rumpali vuosina 1990-1997. Harding on suorittanut BA-tutkinnon englannin kielessä ja kirjallisuudessa sekä opettanut kirjoittamista Harvardin ylioppistossa ja Iowan yliopistossa.

Paul Harding, Wikipedia (fi)