The Bittlemores

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.)