Special edition of Paul Harding's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel--featuring a new foreword by Marilynne Robinson and book club extras inside
In this deluxe tenth anniversary edition, Marilynne Robinson introduces the beautiful novel Tinkers, which begins with an old man who lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past, where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature.
The story behind this New York Times bestselling debut novel--the first independently published Pulitzer Prize winner since A Confederacy of Dunces received the award nearly thirty years before--is as extraordinary as the elegant prose within it. Inspired by his family's history, Paul Harding began writing Tinkers when his rock band broke up. Following numerous rejections from large publishers, Harding was about to shelve the manuscript when Bellevue Literary Press offered a contract. After being accepted by BLP, but before it was even published, the novel developed a following among independent booksellers from coast to coast. Readers and critics soon fell in love, and it went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize, prompting the New York Times to declare the novel's remarkable success "the most dramatic literary Cinderella story of recent memory."
That story is still being written as readers across the country continue to discover this modern classic, which has now sold over half a million copies, proving once again that great literature has a thriving and passionate audience.
Paul Harding is the author of two novels about multiple generations of a New England family: Enon and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers. He teaches at Stony Brook Southampton.
Show moreSpecial edition of Paul Harding's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel--featuring a new foreword by Marilynne Robinson and book club extras inside
In this deluxe tenth anniversary edition, Marilynne Robinson introduces the beautiful novel Tinkers, which begins with an old man who lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past, where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature.
The story behind this New York Times bestselling debut novel--the first independently published Pulitzer Prize winner since A Confederacy of Dunces received the award nearly thirty years before--is as extraordinary as the elegant prose within it. Inspired by his family's history, Paul Harding began writing Tinkers when his rock band broke up. Following numerous rejections from large publishers, Harding was about to shelve the manuscript when Bellevue Literary Press offered a contract. After being accepted by BLP, but before it was even published, the novel developed a following among independent booksellers from coast to coast. Readers and critics soon fell in love, and it went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize, prompting the New York Times to declare the novel's remarkable success "the most dramatic literary Cinderella story of recent memory."
That story is still being written as readers across the country continue to discover this modern classic, which has now sold over half a million copies, proving once again that great literature has a thriving and passionate audience.
Paul Harding is the author of two novels about multiple generations of a New England family: Enon and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers. He teaches at Stony Brook Southampton.
Show morePaul Harding is the author of three novels: the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers, Enon, and the National Book Award and Booker Prize-shortlisted This Other Eden. He is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College in Boston.
Pulitzer Prize Winner
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Winner
New York Times BestsellerADDITIONAL ACCOLADES
American Library Association Notable Book * American Booksellers
Association Indie Next List, Indies Choice Honor Award, and Indie
Next List for Reading Groups * Dublin Literary Award Longlist * Los
Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction Finalist *
Center For Fiction First Novel Prize FinalistNAMED ONE OF THE BEST
NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY
NPR * New Yorker * San Francisco Chronicle * Christian Science
Monitor * Irish Times * Granta * Publishers Weekly * Library
Journal * Barnes & Noble * Amazon.com"A powerful celebration of
life." --Pulitzer Prize citation"An exquisite novel . . . told with
a voice so keen and beautiful as to leave the reader in a state of
excitement produced only by literature, and the best literature at
that." --PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize judges' citation"In this
lyrical novel, the life of a dying man is examined through the
smallest moments of time and memory." --American Library
Association Notable Book citation"[Tinkers is a novel] we hear
customers hand-selling to other readers in that
you've-got-to-read-this voice. The protagonist's deathbed memories
of his father are a meditation on life and death, written in
impeccably lovely prose. Tinkers is incomparable." --Indie Next
List for Reading Groups citation by Cheryl McKeon, Book Passage
(San Francisco, CA) "A true gem that sparkles with thoughtfulness,
intelligence and life." --New Hampshire State Library, Dublin
Literary Award Longlist citation"There are few perfect debut
American novels. . . . To this list ought to be added Paul
Harding's devastating first book, Tinkers. . . . Harding has
written a masterpiece." --NPR "Best Debut Fiction of the Year"
citation"A novel with an old-¬fashioned meditative quality so
perfectly done that it is refreshing to read in a world filled with
noises and false excitements. . . . It brings the reader to a
closer understanding of his own life than he could have imagined
before taking the journey." --Granta "Best Books of the Year"
citation"Quiet, moving, breathtakingly crafted." --Library Journal
"Best Books of the Year" citation"This compact, adamantine debut
dips in and out of the consciousness of a New England patriarch. .
. . In Harding's skillful evocation, Crosby's life, seen from its
final moments, becomes a mosaic of memories." --New Yorker"Alive
with gorgeous sentences." --Elle"[An] astonishing novel." --Los
Angeles Times"In Paul Harding's stunning first novel, we find what
readers, writers and reviewers live for." --San Francisco
Chronicle"Tinkers is a poignant exploration of where we may journey
when the clock has barely a tick or two left and we really can't go
anywhere at all." --Boston Globe"Few contemporary writers have
[Harding's] gift for uniting language and nature through a powerful
imagination. Tinkers is a father-son story told with skill, depth
and beauty." --Concord Monitor"The life and death questions Paul
Harding raises in Tinkers, as well as the richness of his writing,
keep a reader coming back to it. . . . Like Faulkner, he never
shies away from describing what seems impossible to put into
words." --Dallas Morning News"Vivid and original. . . . Tinkers
[is] going to be around for a long, long time." --Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel"This beautiful novel is sui generis; the most
insignificant events . . . radiate fire and light." --Star
Tribune"Stunning. . . . Harding, who apprenticed with his
horologist grandfather, uses the clock as a metaphor for the cosmos
and its deeper intricacies and mysteries." --Courier-Journal"This
is a book so meticulously assembled that vocabulary choices like
'craquelure' and 'scrieved'--far from seeming pretentious--serve as
reminders of how precise and powerful a tool good English can be."
--Christian Science Monitor"Tantalizing. . . . Tinkers takes an
uncompromising look at the complex emotional geometry that exists
between parents and children." --London Review of Books"The most
captivating exploration of history, time and human consciousness. .
. . An expert piece of historical and psychological archaeology,
which unpicks the (bewitching) intricacies of ordinary life while
also asking the terrifying, unanswerable, yet endlessly fascinating
questions that haunt us all." --Guardian"Among the many triumphs of
this novel, Harding enables a reader to look at the world
differently." --Telegraph"Sometimes a novel beguiles from the
opening sentence. Paul Harding's seductive Pulitzer-winning debut
does precisely that [and] the prism of an entire world emerges. . .
. The story and the stories within it flow like water over stones."
--Irish Times"Writing with breathtaking lyricism and tenderness,
Harding has created a rare and beautiful novel of spiritual
inheritance and acute psychological and metaphysical suspense."
--Booklist (starred review)"Outstanding. . . . The real star is
Harding's language, which dazzles whether he's describing the
workings of clocks, sensory images of nature, the many engaging
side characters who populate the book, or even a short passage on
how to build a bird nest. This is an especially gorgeous example of
novelistic craftsmanship." --Publishers Weekly (starred
review)"Filled with lovely Whitmanesque descriptions of the natural
world, this slim novel gives shape to the extraordinary variety in
the thoughts of otherwise ordinary men." --Kirkus Reviews"Paul
Harding's Tinkers is not just a novel--though it is a brilliant
novel. It's an instruction manual on how to look at nearly
everything. Harding takes the back off to show you the miraculous
ticking of the natural world, the world of clocks, generations of
family, an epileptic brain, the human soul. In astounding language
sometimes seemingly struck by lightning, sometimes as tight and
complicated as clockwork, Harding shows how enormous fiction can
be, and how economical. Read this book and marvel." --Elizabeth
McCracken"Tinkers is truly remarkable. It achieves and sustains a
unique fusion of language and perception. Its fine touch plays over
the textured richnesses of very modest lives, evoking again and
again a frisson of deep recognition, a sense of primal encounter
with the brilliant, elusive world of the senses. It confers on the
reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of
ghostly proximity to other human souls." --Marilynne Robinson
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
New York Times BestsellerADDITIONAL ACCOLADES
American Library Association Notable Book * American Booksellers
Association Indie Next List, Indies Choice Honor Award, and Indie
Next List for Reading Groups * International DUBLIN Literary Award
Longlist * Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
Finalist * Center For Fiction First Novel Prize FinalistNAMED ONE
OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY
NPR * New Yorker * San Francisco Chronicle * Christian Science
Monitor * Irish Times * Granta * Publishers Weekly * Library
Journal * Barnes & Noble * Amazon.com"A powerful celebration of
life in which a New England father and son, through suffering and
joy, transcend their imprisoning lives and offer new ways of
perceiving the world and mortality." --Pulitzer Prize citation"An
exquisite novel . . . told with a voice so keen and beautiful as to
leave the reader in a state of excitement produced only by
literature, and the best literature at that." --PEN/Robert W.
Bingham Prize judges' citation"In this lyrical novel, the life of a
dying man is examined through the smallest moments of time and
memory." --American Library Association Notable Book
citation"[Tinkers is a novel] we hear customers hand-selling to
other readers in that you've-got-to-read-this voice. The
protagonist's deathbed memories of his father are a meditation on
life and death, written in impeccably lovely prose. Tinkers is
incomparable." --Indie Next List for Reading Groups citation by
Cheryl McKeon, Book Passage, San Francisco, CA"A true gem that
sparkles with thoughtfulness, intelligence and life." --New
Hampshire State Library, International DUBLIN Literary Award
Longlist citation"There are few perfect debut American novels. . .
. To this list ought to be added Paul Harding's devastating first
book, Tinkers. . . . Harding has written a masterpiece." --NPR Best
Debut Fiction of the Year citation"A novel with an old-fashioned
meditative quality so perfectly done that it is refreshing to read
in a world filled with noises and false excitements. . . . It
brings the reader to a closer understanding of his own life than he
could have imagined before taking the journey." --Granta Best Books
of the Year citation"Quiet, moving, breathtakingly crafted."
--Library Journal Best Books of the Year citation"This compact,
adamantine debut dips in and out of the consciousness of a New
England patriarch. . . . In Harding's skillful evocation, Crosby's
life, seen from its final moments, becomes a mosaic of memories."
--New Yorker"Alive with gorgeous sentences." --Elle"[An]
astonishing novel." --Los Angeles Times"In Paul Harding's stunning
first novel, we find what readers, writers and reviewers live for."
--San Francisco Chronicle"Tinkers is a poignant exploration of
where we may journey when the clock has barely a tick or two left
and we really can't go anywhere at all." --Boston Globe"Few
contemporary writers have [Harding's] gift for uniting language and
nature through a powerful imagination. Tinkers is a father-son
story told with skill, depth and beauty." --Concord Monitor"The
life and death questions Paul Harding raises in Tinkers, as well as
the richness of his writing, keep a reader coming back to it. . . .
Like Faulkner, he never shies away from describing what seems
impossible to put into words." --Dallas Morning News"Vivid and
original. . . . Tinkers [is] going to be around for a long, long
time." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"This beautiful novel is sui
generis; the most insignificant events . . . radiate fire and
light." --Star Tribune"Stunning. . . . Harding, who apprenticed
with his horologist grandfather, uses the clock as a metaphor for
the cosmos and its deeper intricacies and mysteries."
--Courier-Journal"This is a book so meticulously assembled that
vocabulary choices like 'craquelure' and 'scrieved'--far from
seeming pretentious--serve as reminders of how precise and powerful
a tool good English can be." --Christian Science
Monitor"Tantalizing. . . . Tinkers takes an uncompromising look at
the complex emotional geometry that exists between parents and
children." --London Review of Books"The most captivating
exploration of history, time and human consciousness. . . . An
expert piece of historical and psychological archaeology, which
unpicks the (bewitching) intricacies of ordinary life while also
asking the terrifying, unanswerable, yet endlessly fascinating
questions that haunt us all." --Guardian"Among the many triumphs of
this novel, Harding enables a reader to look at the world
differently." --Telegraph"Sometimes a novel beguiles from the
opening sentence. Paul Harding's seductive Pulitzer-winning debut
does precisely that [and] the prism of an entire world emerges. . .
. The story and the stories within it flow like water over stones."
--Irish Times"Harding is a first-rate writer, and his fascination
with what makes his characters tick recommends him as a
philosopher, as well." --Time Out Chicago"Unique, captivating, and
a measure more magical than most other contemporary novels."
--Guernica"A luminous novel . . . that is not about death but
instead an investi¬gation into what life is all about. . . . The
precipice is what Harding is so concentrated on, as though he were
holding a magnifying glass up under bright sunlight and setting
fire to the page." --Quarterly Conversation"This excellent debut
proves Harding to be a writer of exceptional poise, possessing
clear-eyed skill and, like his characters, a steady hand for the
finest of details." --Rumpus"Writing with breathtaking lyricism and
tenderness, Harding has created a rare and beautiful novel of
spiritual inheritance and acute psychological and metaphysical
suspense." --Booklist (starred review)"Outstanding. . . . The real
star is Harding's language, which dazzles whether he's describing
the workings of clocks, sensory images of nature, the many engaging
side characters who populate the book, or even a short passage on
how to build a bird nest. This is an especially gorgeous example of
novelistic craftsmanship." --Publishers Weekly (starred
review)"Filled with lovely Whitmanesque descriptions of the natural
world, this slim novel gives shape to the extraordinary variety in
the thoughts of otherwise ordinary men." --Kirkus Reviews"A novel
that you'll want to savor. . . . I found reading it to be an
incredibly moving experience. . . . This book begs to be read
aloud." --Nancy Pearl, KUOW.org"A complex reflection on memory,
consciousness, and the meaning of life." --Diane Rehm, Diane Rehm
Show "Readers' Review" Book Club"Paul Harding's Tinkers is not just
a novel--though it is a brilliant novel. It's an instruction manual
on how to look at nearly everything. Harding takes the back off to
show you the miraculous ticking of the natural world, the world of
clocks, generations of family, an epileptic brain, the human soul.
In astounding language sometimes seemingly struck by lightning,
sometimes as tight and complicated as clockwork, Harding shows how
enormous fiction can be, and how economical. Read this book and
marvel." --Elizabeth McCracken, author of Thunderstruck and
Bowlaway"Tinkers is truly remarkable. It achieves and sustains a
unique fusion of language and perception. Its fine touch plays over
the textured richnesses of very modest lives, evoking again and
again a frisson of deep recognition, a sense of primal encounter
with the brilliant, elusive world of the senses. It confers on the
reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of
ghostly proximity to other human souls." --Marilynne Robinson,
author of Gilead and What Are We Doing Here?"A work of great power
and originality. There is a striking freedom of style here, which
allows the author to move without any sense of strain or loss of
balance from the visionary and ecstatic to the exquisitely precise.
The novel is compelling to read, sometimes horrific, and deeply
moving because it is woven together into the single quilt of our
humanity." --Barry Unsworth, author of Sacred Hunger and The
Quality of Mercy
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