Richard Bausch

The Fireman's Wife

"To read the fiction of Richard Bausch is to be hugely moved, to be in touch with the depths of experience, to be present at the creation in a monument to human worth."—Newsday

Richard Bausch gets deep inside of people's lives. He speaks eloquently for all and to all of us about the intricacies of relationships—their fragility and their inherent possibility for explosion.

"Few explore with greater wisdom and compassion than Richard Bausch the dangers lying along the path to family love; few so richly deserve a wider audience than he has thus far reached."—Chicago Tribune

"Like Raymond Carver, Mr. Bausch can write the fine line with a directness that allows for no errors. His dialogue, like that of Bobbie Ann Mason, has just the right sound. Perhaps, on consideration, it is misleading to say that his characters are ordinary people, for against the unthinking rush of our current culture, they seek a pattern in life. They are inarticulate neither in voice nor in thought."—Bette Pesetsky, New York Times Book Review

"Richard Bausch displays a sensational mastery of form and content, a way of reaching into your body and gently holding your soul. He is, quite simply, one of our finest storytellers, a man whose gigantic talent is to be treasured, a writer to whom you must say, 'Thank you.'"—Detroit News