'A big glorious novel in every sense this sprawling family saga...is a funny and big-hearted
epic from a seriously gifted wordsmith'Marie ClaireRead the sweeping and enchanting new novel
from the author of The Giant's HouseBertha is an enigma to everyone in Salford Massachusetts -
ever since she was discovered unconscious in a New England cemetery with nothing but a bowling
ball a candlepin and fifteen pounds of gold on her person. She has no past to speak of and
her mysterious origin scandalises the townspeople as does her choice to marry and start a
family with Leviticus Sprague the doctor who revived her. But Bertha is plucky and
entrepreneurial and the bowling alley she opens quickly becomes Salford's most defining
landmark. As she changes the town forever her singular spirit resonating through every board
and brick and bone an epic family saga unfolds set against the backdrop of twentieth-century
America.
