Author:Glenice Crossland
Previously published as The Ever Open Door, this is a story told with warmth and humour, about a hard working, down-to-earth community in a small Yorkshire town during the Second World War and its aftermath.
Yorkshire, 1940: Kind Sally Butler and her husband Jim are content in their little house on Potters Row. Jim's only complaint is that Sally is too soft hearted, always at the beck and call of any neighbour, friend or even stranger. Sally, on the other hand, accuses Jim of being a soft touch for anyone after a drink or two at the Rising Sun. Both accept that neither will ever change and they love each other and their daughter Daisy deeply.
Theirs is a close-knit family in a close-knit community where gossip – both good and bad – abounds and neighbour looks out for neighbour. And when Sally's generosity leads to an inheritance it should mean a change of life for the better, instead it brings danger and difficult choices for them all...
Praise for Kate Eastham
—— -Deftly written and moving
—— Woman's OwnA heartwarming and tear-inducing tale with wonderfully realistic characters
—— Woman[McCracken has] considerable gifts as a novelist [and] instinctive access to the most intricate threads of human thought and feeling... This novel’s cast grows epic, but McCracken is always most impressive when she works small, when she is describing movie kisses or corsets or simply loneliness and longing.
—— New York TimesDeath and life, frosted with macabre comedy: it’s why we’ve enjoyed Elizabeth McCracken since her debut novel, The Giant’s House… nothing is ordinary in this story… There’s a wickedness to McCracken’s technique, the way she lures us in with her witty voice and oddball characters but then kicks the wind out of us… endlessly surprising.
—— Ron Charles , Washington PostBowlaway 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