This is one of the funniest, darkest most ridiculously outrageous stories I’ve ever read, but I have to say, I absolutely loved it! There are some reprehensible profane characters and there is a lot of stuff that is hard to read (cruelty to animals and people mostly) but there is also so much resilience, goodness and kindness as well. And I was rooting SO hard for the cat, the cows, the pigs and Willa!
Ok. That is probably the weirdest paragraph I have ever written on this blog… 🙂
Jann Arden is a masterful Canadian song writer, who has also written beautiful, compassionate memoirs (Feeding my Mother and If I Knew Then). She is a thoughtful, wise, funny, and down-to-earth human being who I have gained a lot of respect for over the years. She cares a lot about animals and their welfare and that is crystal clear in this her first novel. The Bittlemores is a rural fairytale and a coming-of-age story. It is full of the author’s observations of the world she grew up in and her deep connection to the animals we exploit. This is not just a silly story–Arden delves into how people come to be so cruel but also glories in the miracle of human (and animal) kindness. CBC podcast Q had Tom Power interviewing Jann about the book. It is worth a listen: click here.
Harp Bittlemore is mean and so is his wife. On his 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.
Joanne's Reading Blog 
Totally new to me–and intriguing!
There is quite a bit of profanity in it, but I can live with that if it fits the characters, and in this one it does. Her memoir Feeding my Mother is a beautiful journey of how she cared for her ailing mother. The book even has simple nutritious recipes that I still use today!