Hair Hat

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Re-released as an ebook by House of Anansi, 2014, with a new cover design

 

 

Originally published by Penguin Canada, 2004

 

In these mysterious and wondrous stories, eleven disparate people — some of them related, some of them neighbours, glancing acquaintances, or even complete strangers — are transformed by a man with hair shaped like a hat. Their singular encounters with the mysterious hair hat man begin to layer powerfully, one upon the other. Taken as a whole, HAIR HAT enacts a deeply compelling human drama.

A finalist for the 2004 Danuta Gleed Award for short fiction

“”With its sharp-edged prose and daring plot turns, Hair Hat is an unusual first book. Snyder made a genuine gamble with this book and it pays off.”” (National Post)

“Hooray for Hair Hat! It’s difficult to find fault with a book wearing its heart so bravely on its head.” (Quill & Quire)

“The prose is unadorned, yet rich with precision and compression. Snyder’s small epiphanies grow naturally from her fluid blend of insight and expression.” (The Globe and Mail)

“Each story builds on the next and the result is a potent work of original imagination.”” (Edmonton Journal)

“Truly original. Snyder shows herself gifted at investing familiar scenes with a first-time sharpness. On finishing the last story in this book, I did something very few short-story collections have ever prompted me to do: I turned back to the beginning and started reading again.” (Montreal Gazette)

“Snyder’’s writing is spare and subtle, leading the reader into deepening sympathy with each of her protagonists.” (Echo Weekly)

“Snyder’s imagination is broad, but her prose has the precision of a laser.” (Chatelaine)