Betting on Bernie: A Memoir of A Marriage

Bernard Marks and Martha Alford met by chance. No real reason for it, just a series of fluky coincidences. The odds were long that they would hit it off. That wasn’t in the cards they’d been dealt at birth. “It’ll never last,” people whispered after they got engaged. “Poor probability of success” was the general consensus when they married. But Bernie and Martha ignored the naysayers. Gamblers in love, they rolled the dice.

And then they worked hard, took even more risks, caught a few lucky breaks, built satisfying careers, enjoyed terrific travels, and won their own version of the lottery of life. For over four decades, Lady Luck smiled on them—until one day, she didn’t. Out of the blue, Fortune spun her wheel and taught them that no one is immune to tragedy and heartbreak. Bernie’s two-in-a-million medical crisis sent him and Martha into a tailspin. How could such a cruel twist of fate happen to a couple who had overcome the odds to lead such positive, productive lives?

Betting on Bernie is Martha Marks’s intimate, three-part memoir of their improbable courtship, happy and prosperous marriage, and not-so-golden “golden years.” It will make you think, wonder, laugh, and cry.