Laura Patterson:
All the Colour in the World by C.S Richardson is a haunting yet beautiful story of a man whose love of art and colour helps carry him through a life of sadness and great loss. Set in Toronto in the ‘20s and ‘30s, this story weaves Henry’s life story with historical facts and art history to create an interesting yet beautifully poetic piece of writing.
Christina Barber:
In All the Colour in the World, CS Richardson’s descriptive and dynamic prose renders a nuanced portrait of Henry, the ill-fated protagonist who finds himself bereft, carried upon the tides of world events as he tries to make sense of a series of life-altering losses and disappointments through the comfort of colour, painting, art, and a certain passion for historical facts. Set in the early to mid-twentieth century, Henry’s early life is largely set against the backdrop of Toronto and is juxtaposed with his time as a soldier in Sicily, where a psychological break will see him reliving his pre-war life through a series of counselling sessions while sitting on the commandeered terrace of an Italian villa. Richardson’s innovative style works well as a shorter novel, where readers engage in piecing together the fragments of Henry’s life through the author’s collage-like presentation of historical references, memories, and image-filled descriptions.
CS RICHARDSON’s first novel, The End of the Alphabet, was an international bestseller, published in fourteen countries and ten languages, and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean). His second novel, The Emperor of Paris, was a national bestseller, named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year, and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. An award-winning book designer, CS Richardson worked in publishing for forty years. He is a multiple recipient of the Alcuin Award, Canada’s highest honour for excellence in book design. He lives and writes in Toronto.
- Publisher : Knopf Canada (Jan. 17 2023)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 208 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1039003516
- ISBN-13 : 978-1039003514
Laura Patterson is a Registered Acupuncturist and a QA Lab Technician from rural New Brunswick where she lives with her husband and twin boys. She has a BSc in Biology and a Diploma in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. When she's not working in the lab or in her clinic, she enjoys camping and adventuring with her family, reading many books, and writing book reviews.
Christina Barber is a writer and educator who lives in Vancouver. An avid reader, she shares her passion for Canadian history and literature through her reviews on Instagram @cb_reads_reviews. She has most recently been committed to writing and staging formally innovative single and multi-act plays.
