Author:Nancy Revell,Janine Birkett
Brought to you by Penguin.
**THE NINTH NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING SHIPYARD GIRLS SERIES**
Sunderland, 1943: As Christmas approaches in the shipyards, everyone is hoping for a little magic...
Helen would love to find the courage to tell the dashing Dr Parker of her true feelings for him. But how can she when he clearly has eyes for someone else?
More than a year has passed since Bel's wedding to sweetheart Joe. She knows she has much to feel thankful for and yet there is still one burning desire which she cannot ignore.
And as Polly grows with child, she hopes against hope for a safe delivery - and that her husband Tommy can soon return from the front line to meet their new arrival.
There will be storms to weather, but guided by their strength and friendship there is still hope for each of the shipyard girls that their Christmas wishes will come true.
Praise for Nancy Revell
'Nancy Revell knows how to stir the passions and soothe the heart!' Northern Echo
'Stirring and heartfelt storytelling' Peterborough Evening Telegraph
'Emotional and gripping' Take a Break
'The author is one to watch' Sun
'Well-drawn, believable characters combined with a storyline to keep you turning the pages' Woman
© Nancy Revell 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
Praise for Kate Eastham
—— -Deftly written and moving
—— Woman's OwnA heartwarming and tear-inducing tale with wonderfully realistic characters
—— WomanFascinating and gripping - a wonderful novel
—— Rosamund Lupton‘A definite must read!’
—— Jera’s JamboreeBowlaway is that most improbable of literary phenomena: a buoyant, joyful, rollicking yarn of sadness and loss... McCracken’s gloriously vibrant and boisterously surprising narrative voice is one of the great triumphs of Bowlaway... A tour de force.
—— Boston GlobeWildly entertaining... [A] wonderfully unpredictable multi-generational saga which revolves around a Massachusetts bowling alley... Bowlaway celebrates the oddest of oddballs and the freakiest of freak accidents with wit and heart. To read McCracken’s inimitably clever sentences and follow her quirky narrative twists is to be constantly delighted.
—— NPRIrresistibly quirky… Packed with Dickensian characters and plot devices (orphans, secret wills, hidden treasure…), [Bowlaway is] lyrical and humorous, with some dazzlingly inventive twists. A family saga unlike any other.
—— Hephzibah Anderson , Mail on SundayMcCracken’s imaginative reserves and her delight in outlandish events make [Bowlaway]… a kind of fable – a colourful and often captivating fantasia on New England themes.
—— New YorkerMcCracken’s newest novel, a 20th-century family epic centered on candlepin bowling, is populated by strange, excellent characters, and unfolds with all the offbeat coziness and heartache of a great American fable: molasses floods, workplace fires, surprising heirs, and all.
—— Vanity FairMcCracken’s book is a little McCrackers – a woman falls from the sky, lands in a graveyard and survives to open a bowling alley… there’s a strong American Gothic, magical realism feel… But who is she really? Or any of us, come to that? As we follow Bertha and her family down the generations, the answer seems to be that people are strange, life is random and what matters is love.
—— Wendy Holden , Daily MailAt the turn of the 20th century a woman is discovered unconscious and nearly frozen in a New England cemetery with only a bowling ball, a candlepin, and 15 pounds of gold on her. The National Book Award finalist’s exuberantly weird and wonderful book unravels the mystery.
—— O, the Oprah MagazineBowlaway snatches up every individual that finds joy or tragedy in proximity to the bowling alley and allows them to be observed tenderly and precisely... McCracken’s love of language is the catching kind... In Bowlaway, the journey through McCracken’s lush, piercing prose is the destination.
—— Austin ChronicleReading Elizabeth McCracken—the gorgeously-put-together sentences parading the pages like models on a Paris runway; the crazy, original insights; the definitive, wholly fictional pronouncements—is like going on an automotive safari... I could not stop reading.
—— NewsdayMcCracken’s delightful prose and rich historical details make this the perfect book to get lost in.
—— Real Simple[An] accomplished novel.
—— iPassionate and comically self-aware romanticizing of candlepin bowling itself… genius… McCracken’s… delightful voice and poetic facility have been present since her debut novel… Bowlaway…[is] a towering, hearty, multi-tiered cake, dazzling and confident in its construction.
—— Kim Fu , Times Literary SupplementStorytelling at its very best
—— Daily MailEvocative, compelling, told from the heart
—— Sunday ExpressGlorious, heartwarming
—— Woman & HomeIntriguing, heart-tugging, beautifully written
—— CloserRidker's debut is at once humorous and poignant.
—— Library JournalEloquent… style and smooth pacing.
—— SkinnyComedy ahoy!
—— Strong WordsRidker handles the tussle between parent and children with humour and psychological insight… He is a sure comic talent, witty and engaged, and alive to the legion of competing and irreconcilable roles from which the individual today must self-consciously choose.
—— John Maier , Literary Review