保罗•哈丁，美国作家、音乐家。他少年时代经常“在丛林中游荡”，对大自然有着深切的爱和体悟。后参与创建“Cold Water Flat”乐队，担任鼓手，曾在美国和欧洲巡回演出。他从小酷爱阅读。当读到卡洛斯•富恩特斯的《我们的土地》时，他突然感到“这才是我要做的事”，从此萌发文学创作之念。他的首部小说《修补匠》原本默默无闻，却凭借其厚积薄发的文学内涵获得2010年普利策小说奖。

Harding's outstanding debut unfurls the history and final thoughts of a dying grandfather surrounded by his family in his New England home. George Washington Crosby repairs clocks for a living and on his deathbed revisits his turbulent childhood as the oldest son of an epileptic smalltime traveling salesman. The descriptions of the father's epilepsy and the cold halo of chemical electricity that encircled him immediately before he was struck by a full seizure are stunning, and the household's sadness permeates the narrative as George returns to more melancholy scenes. 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. (Jan.)

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