Author: elizabethmccracken

“A buoyant, joyful, rollicking yarn of sadness and loss… Reminiscent of John Irving, with echoes of Dickens” (The Boston Globe): In a 20th-century New England town, Bertha opens a bowling alley — beginning a legacy that will echo throughout the coming generations. “A novel readers will sink into and savor” (Publishers Weekly).

An “impressive” collection (The New York Times Book Review) from a National Book Award–nominated author: From the son of a circus performer to a mysterious aunt on a surprise visit, singular characters struggle to connect with the world around them. “Funny and heartbreaking” (The Boston Globe).

“This is the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending,” writes Elizabeth McCracken in her powerful, inspiring memoir. A prize-winning, successful novelist in her 30s, McCracken was happy to be an itinerant writer and self-proclaimed spinster. But suddenly she fell in love, got married, and two years ago was living in a remote part of France, working on her novel, and waiting for the … birth of her first child.This book is about what happened next. In her ninth month of pregnancy, she learned that her baby boy had died. How do you deal with and recover from…

A National Book Award finalist by “a wise and compassionate reader of the human heart” (Publishers Weekly). Peggy’s lonely life as a Cape Cod librarian changes when young — but incredibly tall — James lumbers up to the circulation desk. “Hauntingly beautiful” (Library Journal).