Tinkers – Paul Harding

The book

An old man 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.

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.

At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature.

2009, Paperback, 192 pages
Bellevue Literary Press

The author

Paul Harding has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught writing at Harvard and the University of Iowa. He lives near Boston with his wife and two sons. This is his first novel.

Discussed March 4, 2018