This Shining Life

Harriet Kline works part time registering births, deaths and marriages and writes for the rest of the week. Her story Ghost won the Hissac Short Story Competition and Chest of Drawers won The London Magazine Short Story Competition.

Other short stories have been published online with Litro, For Books' Sake, and ShortStorySunday, and on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Bristol with her partner and two teenage sons.

Lovable, easy-going, charming Rich is dying of a brain tumour. Life and soul of every party, adored and relied upon by his family and in particular by his autistic son Ollie, no-one wants to believe what is unfolding in front of them.

In an effort to convey his love for them Rich decides to send each of his close relations a present. He asks for Ollie's help, but the combination of Rick's vagueness and the pressure that Ollie feels means the task does not go quite to plan.

And then more suddenly than expected, Rick dies. How the family learns to comes to terms with the catastrophe,and move on is at the centre of this beautifully written and uplifting novel.