Winner, Best First Book, Saskatchewan Book Awards (1998)

A year in the lives, dreams and awakenings of the Protheroe family. Baby Dion is brain-damaged at birth, yet he is a sweet and powerful influence on his parents, his five sisters and his grandparents. Under his spell, the reader travels through the minds of three generations: a group of wonderfully individual people who nevertheless define family in a wholly original and exciting way.

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 Child was 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 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.

Harriet Richards' profile page

• Winner, First Book Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards

"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