Robbed of her career as a concert pianist due to a tragic childhood accident, Mariah Standhoffer is compelled to seek alternate means of artistic expression, eventually achieving renown as a composer. Mariah's shattered life turns on a series of complex relationships with others who have suffered damage in their lives — particularly Doug and Sully, challengers for her love. These vividly realized characters, like Mariah, learn to make opportunity out of accident and ultimately find dignity in compassion.Raw, often heart-wrenching, but also an exhilarating read, The Handless Maiden is an audacious and triumphant début.

Loranne Brown's profile page

• Nominated, Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award
• Nominated, BC Book Prize's Ethel Wilson Award for Fiction

Loranne Brown grew up in Thunder Bay, studied at the University of Toronto, and then moved to Bermuda where she lived for eleven years. She has won several honours for her short fiction. She and her family live near Vancouver.

"Brown is a consummate storyteller ... The Handless Maiden is a big, exuberant novel with a generous heart, which loves life and everything in it." —The Globe and Mail
"Compelling ... It may be the kind of novel that's been missing from the Canadian publishing scene." —Quill & Quire