The Bittlemores

by Jann Arden Narrated by Jann Arden

Overview

A heartfelt, comic, and deeply satisfying debut novel from the #1 bestselling author, singer-songwriter, member of Canada's Music Hall of Fame and star of her own hit TV sitcom. A little bit All Creatures Great and Small, a little bit Fargo and all Jann Arden!

On mean Harp Bittlemore's blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don't grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away.
     But Willa Bittlemore, just turning 14, is planning her own rebellion. Something doesn't add up in the story she's been told about her missing sister, and she's beginning to question if her horrible parents are even her parents at all. Just as things are really coming to a head, a bright young police officer starts investigating a cold case involving a baby stolen from a little rural hospital 28 years earlier, and Willa and the cows find out exactly how far the Bittlemores will go to protect a festering secret.
     Written with Jann's trademark outrageous humour and full of her down-to-earth wisdom, The Bittlemores is a rural fairytale, a coming-of-age story and a prairie mystery all-in-one, saturated with her observations of the world she grew up in and her deep connection to the animals we exploit. This marvel of a first novel digs into how people come to be so cruel, but it also glories in the miracle of human kindness.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

11/06/2023

The kooky first novel from Canadian singer-songwriter Arden (If I Knew Then) sees teenage farmer’s daughter Willa Bittlemore joining forces with her livestock to uncover family secrets. Willa has been raised on a hardscrabble farm by a father so mean that even his three dairy cows, Berle, Crilla, and Dally, are plotting a rebellion against him. As Willa’s 14th birthday approaches, she grows curious about the fate of her older sister, Margaret, who allegedly ran away when Willa was a baby. Willa’s questions about Margaret intensify when a police officer starts looking into a cold case involving a baby stolen from a nearby hospital 28 years earlier. Soon, Willa and her cows are on the trail of secrets that cruel old Harp Bittlemore and his downtrodden wife have kept buried for years. Readers will have to decide for themselves how easily they can reconcile the whimsy of talking cows with Arden’s unflinching depiction of kidnapping, domestic abuse, and alcoholism. Readers up for an off-kilter mystery will have a tough time letting go of this one.. (Nov.)

From the Publisher

Finalist for the Crime Writers of Canada Best Crime First Novel Award

“Get ready to add this novel to your canon of beloved growing-up tales, because if there’s anyone who can take on the vulnerability and determination of the young adult years with a perfect combination of heart and humour, it’s our national treasure, Jann Arden.” —Canadian Living

“Arden’s take on poverty, alcoholism and the long-term impact of neglect, isolation and abuse occasionally recalls the work of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor or New Brunswick’s David Adams Richards. On the other hand, it is also comical. It has an endearing coming-of-age story at its centre, told in snappy first-person narration by a wise-beyond-her-years 14-year-old girl named Willa.” —Calgary Herald

“Jann Arden’s stunning debut novel, The Bittlemores, is the story of a family farm in the Backhills of Canada. Told through the generations, and full of struggle, secrets and brutality, one shining light emerges through the darkness. Willa is 14, at a crossroads and full of questions. Her coming of age is part mystery and suspense, but always heartfelt and real. There is humor, and a longing beneath the pain, as Willa hopes to build a life worth living on her own terms. With grace notes from classic literature, animals talk and scheme, children are empowered by their own questions, and forgiveness is the seed of a new way of life. This is great storytelling from a glorious master craftsman.” —Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of Big Stone Gap and The Good Left Undone

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159824578
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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