Author Description

Sandy Balfour's father and the game of Contract Bridge were both conceived in 1925. But whereas Tom Balfour was the child of a bank clerk and a schoolteacher and was born in a modest apartment in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, the game he came to love had an altogether more distinguished lineage. Vulnerable in Hearts spans the eight decades of Tom Balfour's life and the same period in the epic story of Bridge's spread around the world. Sandy Balfour's moving and delightfully original book traces both journeys to explore the relationships between a game and an empire (and the rules that supported it); and a father, and a son. Part memoir, part history, part entertainment, Vulnerable in Hearts is a poignant meditation on how we communicate; why we play games; and the ways in which we love.