The Little Washer of Sorrows
Published by Thistledown Press
The Little Washer of Sorrows is a collection of short stories that explores what happens when the expected and usual are replaced with elements of the rare and strange. The book’s emotional impact is created with strong, richly drawn characters facing universal issues in unusual settings. The collection is both dark and comical with engaging plot twists and elements of the macabre as characters attempt to cope with high-stakes melodramas that drift further out of their control.
The collection’s opening story “Captcha” begins with a perfect wife — mathematical genius and Kokanee beer model Margo — sending her husband Pete off to work before setting about her household chores. When she finds Pete’s filing cabinet unlocked, curiosity gets the best of her and she makes a life-changing discovery. The oddity increases in “Johnny Longsword’s Third Option” where a male stripper sits impatiently in a mysterious waiting room reflecting on his life as the by-the-books gatekeeper tests his patience. In the title story, Greg is convinced that the assistant estate manager at a bankruptcy office, green-eyed Fiona, is an Irish banshee. Could she be a mythological fairy who has appeared as a prophet of doom, washing the dirty laundry of a person whose demise is approaching?
The threat of something sinister lingers beneath the surface in many of Fawcett’s stories, as she explores the messy “what ifs?” of life and the ever-present paradox of free will.
Book Reviews for “The Little Washer of Sorrows”
'Little Washer Of Sorrows' Morphs The Mundane Into The Fantastic
The Little Washer of Sorrows is not what it seems. At first glance, the debut collection of short stories by Canadian author Katherine Fawcett offers funny, sympathetic sketches of characters who might live next door to you: The homemaker who underutilizes her college degree; the aspiring heavy metal musician with delusions of stardom; the aging couple who can barely muster the passion to even bicker anymore.
– By Jason Heller, NPR
“Funny and compassionate, this collection of stories leaves you with an understanding of our humanness – foibles, beauty, warts and all.”
– Stella Harvey, author of Nicolai’s Daughters
“An aging male stripper arguing with St Peter at the Pearly Gates, a cuckold hunting unicorn, an android who learns to love Leonard Cohen – Katherine Fawcett is blessed with a fierce imagination. Her style is as original and as wildly diverse as her characters, with stories that range from gritty realism to magical fantasy to wise fable. Fawcett’s voice is bold and confident but also surprisingly playful, with unexpected comedy sprinkled throughout the collection.”- Angie Abdou
“Katherine Fawcett works magic here, whips imagination, wit and anarchy into gold. Each story finds a place where our culture is already strange and jumps off from there. ” – Fred Stenson
“Katherine Fawcett’s unique, fast-paced, witty, hits-you-in-the-gut funny short stories appeal to some of our deepest fantasies and darkest questions, such as ‘what happens to us after we die?’ and ‘what if I could create my ideal mate?’ Like a magician, Fawcett uses language to create illusion and to reveal truth in a most engaging way.”- Sue Oakey
“Katherine Fawcett inhabits a bizarre back-alley of carnies and pyramid schemes, daily affirmations, making-do and derring-do: a Diane Arbus world of freaks and fables that is at once hilarious, surprising, and profound, turning our view of the place we live in upside down. . . Oddball, yet strangely familiar, the creatures spawned in Fawcett’s imagination will move into yours. You’ll never be the same again.” -Merilyn Simonds
“Fawcett’s stories turn left just when you think they’ll turn right; they step on the gas and race deep into the heart of her characters’ bizarre lives.” – Stephen Vogler