The Other Side of the Bridge - Hardcover

Lawson, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385340370 ISBN 13: 9780385340373

Publisher: Dial Pr, 2006

Synopsis

From the author of the beloved #1 national bestseller Crow Lake comes an exceptional new novel of jealously, rivalry and the dangerous power of obsession.

Two brothers, Arthur and Jake Dunn, are the sons of a farmer in the mid-1930s, when life is tough and another world war is looming. Arthur is reticent, solid, dutiful and set to inherit the farm and his father’s character; Jake is younger, attractive, mercurial and dangerous to know – the family misfit. When a beautiful young woman comes into the community, the fragile balance of sibling rivalry tips over the edge.

Then there is Ian, the family’s next generation, and far too sure he knows the difference between right and wrong. By now it is the fifties, and the world has changed – a little, but not enough.

These two generations in the small town of Struan, Ontario, are tragically interlocked, linked by fate and community but separated by a war which devours its young men – its unimaginable horror reaching right into the heart of this remote corner of an empire. With her astonishing ability to turn the ratchet of tension slowly and delicately, Lawson builds their story to a shocking climax. Taut with apprehension, surprising us with moments of tenderness and humour, The Other Side of the Bridge is a compelling, humane and vividly evoked novel with an irresistible emotional undertow.

Arthur found himself staring down at the knife embedded in his foot. There was a surreal split second before the blood started to well up and then up it came, dark and thick as syrup.

Arthur looked at Jake and saw that he was staring at the knife. His expression was one of surprise, and this was something that Arthur wondered about later too. Was Jake surprised because he had never considered the possibility that he might be a less than perfect shot? Did he have that much confidence in himself, that little self-doubt?

Or was he merely surprised at how easy it was to give in to an impulse, and carry through the thought which lay in your mind? Simply to do whatever you wanted to do, and damn the consequences.
–from The Other Side of the Bridge

About this title

Review:

Acclaim for "Crow Lake":
- Winner of the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
- A Globe and Mail Best Book
- A Publishers Weekly Best Book
- A New York Times Notable Book
- A Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year
- A Today Show Book Club Pick
- A Washington Post Best Book
Praise for "Crow Lake":
"Crow Lake [is] superb, elegant. . . . Lawson is a brilliant storyteller; she takes her time in laying the foundation of her tale and layering on the complexities. She's also an elegant stylist; her prose is lyrically thoughtful. . . . The depth, honesty and feeling throughout are superbly wrought. Crow Lake is a wondrous thing - it's a new Canadian classic."
-"The Hamilton Spectator"
"Lawson communicates not only the lonely awe and beauty of the landscape, but the way its inhabitants function within it . . . the kind of book that keeps you reading well past midnight; you grieve when it's over. Then you start pressing it on friends."
-"The Washington Post"
"Crow Lake: deep, clear and teeming with life. Mary Lawson, Mary Lawson. Remember the name. . . . Kate Morrison's voice overturns convention and makes everything fresher, larger, livelier than it first appears. . . . She is very special. So is Crow Lake. . . . This is the real thing."
-The "Globe and Mail"

"Lawson again explores the moral quandries of life in the Canadian North.... It's a world of pristine landscapes and brutal winters, where beauty and harshness are inextricably intertwined.... Evocative writing."--"Publishers Weekly"
Acclaim for "Crow Lake":
- Winner of the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
- A Globe and Mail Best Book
- A Publishers Weekly Best Book
- A New York Times Notable Book
- A Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year
- A Today Show Book Club Pick
- A Washington Post Best Book
Praise for "Crow Lake":
"Crow Lake İis¨ superb, elegant. . . . Lawson is a brilliant storyteller; she takes her time in laying the foundation of her tale and layering on the complexities. She's also an elegant stylist; her prose is lyrically thoughtful. . . . The depth, honesty and feeling throughout are superbly wrought. Crow Lake is a wondrous thing - it's a new Canadian classic."
-"The Hamilton Spectator"
"Lawson communicates not only the lonely awe and beauty of the landscape, but the way its inhabitants function within it . . . the kind of book that keeps you reading well past midnight; you grieve when it's over. Then you start pressing it on friends."
-"The Washington Post"
"Crow Lake: deep, clear and teeming with life. Mary Lawson, Mary Lawson. Remember the name. . . . Kate Morrison's voice overturns convention and makes everything fresher, larger, livelier than it first appears. . . . She is very special. So is Crow Lake. . . . This is the real thing."
-The "Globe and Mail"

"As in her acclaimed debut, Crow Lake, a bleak landscape that gives way to eruptions of beauty plays a role.... Lawson beautifully skirts the cliches of sibling rivalry embedded since Cain and Abel, with a story that aches with its inevitability and yet suggests hope."--"New York Daily News"
"Lawson's writing.... is patient, never flashy, and her virtuosity never calls attention to itself. Her characters are ordinary, decent people, living out the dramas of everyday life in a place that is beautiful and demanding. Through them she reminds us that old-fashioned storytelling is the best kind and the hardest to do, and that simple themes often touch us most."--"Arizona Republic"
"Lawson again explores the moral quandries of life in the Canadian North.... It's a world of pristine landscapes and brutal winters, where beauty and harshness are inextricably intertwined.... Evocative writing."--"Publishers Weekly"
Acclaim for "Crow Lake":
- Winner of the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
- A Globe and Mail Best Book
- A Publishers Weekly Best Book
- A New York Times Notable Book
- A Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year
- A Today Show Book Club Pick
- A Washington Post Best Book
Praise for "Crow Lake":
"Crow Lake İis¨ superb, elegant. . . . Lawson is a brilliant storyteller; she takes her time in laying the foundation of her tale and layering on the complexities. She's also an elegant stylist; her prose is lyrically thoughtful. . . . The depth, honesty and feeling throughout are superbly wrought. Crow Lake is a wondrous thing - it's a new Canadian classic."--"Hamilton Spectator"
"Lawson communicates not only the lonely awe and beauty of thelandscape, but the way its inhabitants function within it . . . the kind of book that keeps you reading well past midnight; you grieve when it's over. Then you start pressing it on friends." --"Washington Post"
"Crow Lake: deep, clear and teeming with life. Mary Lawson, Mary Lawson. Remember the name. . . . Kate Morrison's voice overturns convention and makes everything fresher, larger, livelier than it first appears. . . . She is very special. So is Crow Lake. . . . This is the real thing." --"Globe and Mail"

"Lawson clearly knows and loves her terrain -- the countryside, its people and their way of life -- and she tells this story without sentimentalizing anything about it."--"Los Angeles Times
"
"As in her acclaimed debut, Crow Lake, a bleak landscape that gives way to eruptions of beauty plays a role.... Lawson beautifully skirts the cliches of sibling rivalry embedded since Cain and Abel, with a story that aches with its inevitability and yet suggests hope."--"New York Daily News"
"Lawson's writing.... is patient, never flashy, and her virtuosity never calls attention to itself. Her characters are ordinary, decent people, living out the dramas of everyday life in a place that is beautiful and demanding. Through them she reminds us that old-fashioned storytelling is the best kind and the hardest to do, and that simple themes often touch us most."--"Arizona Republic
"
"Lawson again explores the moral quandries of life in the Canadian North.... It's a world of pristine landscapes and brutal winters, where beauty and harshness are inextricably intertwined.... Evocative writing."--"Publishers Weekly"
Acclaim for "Crow Lake":
- Winner of the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
- A Globe and Mail Best Book
- A Publishers Weekly Best Book
- A New York Times Notable Book
- A Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year
- A Today Show Book Club Pick
- A Washington Post Best Book
Praise for "Crow Lake":
"Crow Lake İis¨ superb, elegant. . . . Lawson is a brilliant storyteller; she takes her time in laying the foundation of her tale and layering on the complexities. She's also an elegant stylist; her prose is lyrically thoughtful. . . . The depth, honesty and feeling throughout are superbly wrought. Crow Lake is a wondrous thing - it's a new Canadian classic."--"Hamilton Spectator"
"Lawson communicates not only the lonely awe and beauty of the landscape, but the way its inhabitants function within it . . . the kind of book that keeps you reading well past midnight; you grieve when it's over. Then you start pressing it on friends." --"Washington Post"
"Crow Lake: deep, clear and teeming with life. Mary Lawson, Mary Lawson. Remember the name. . . . Kate Morrison's voice overturns convention and makes everything fresher, larger, livelier than it first appears. . . . She is very special. So is Crow Lake. . . . This is the real thing." --"Globe and Mail"

"Lawson clearly knows and loves her terrain -- the countryside, its people and their way of life -- and she tells this story without sentimentalizing anything about it."--"Los Angeles Times
"
"As in her acclaimed debut, Crow Lake, a bleak landscape that gives way to eruptions of beauty plays a role.... Lawson beautifully skirts the cliches of sibling rivalry embedded since Cain and Abel, with a story that aches with its inevitability and yet suggests hope."--"New York Daily News"
"Lawson's writing.... is patient, never flashy, and her virtuosity never calls attention to itself. Her characters are ordinary, decent people, living out the dramas of everyday life in a place that is beautiful and demanding. Through them she reminds us that old-fashioned storytelling is the best kind and the hardest to do, and that simple themes often touch us most."--"Arizona Republic
"
"Lawson again explores the moral quandries of life in the Canadian North.... It's a world of pristine landscapes and brutal winters, where beauty and harshness are inextricably intertwined.... Evocative writing."--"Publishers Weekly"
Acclaim for "Crow Lake":
- Winner of the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
- A Globe and Mail Best Book
- A Publishers Weekly Best Book
- A New York Times Notable Book
- A Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year
- A Today Show Book Club Pick
- A Washington Post Best Book
Praise for "Crow Lake":
"Crow Lake İis¨ superb, elegant. . . . Lawson is a brilliant storyteller; she takes her time in laying the foundation of her tale and layering on the complexities. She's also an elegant stylist; her prose is lyrically thoughtful. . . . The depth, honesty and feeling throughout are superbly wrought. Crow Lake is a wondrous thing - it's a new Canadian classic."--"Hamilton Spectator"
"Lawson communicates not only the lonely awe and beauty of the landscape, but the way its inhabitants function within it . . . the kind of book that keeps you reading well past midnight; you grieve when it's over. Then you start pressing it on friends." --"Washington Post"
"Crow Lake: deep, clear and teeming with life. Mary Lawson, Mary Lawson. Remember the name. . . . Kate Morrison's voice overturns convention and makes everything fresher, larger, livelier than it first appears. . . . She is very special. So is Crow Lake. . . . This is the real thing." --"Globe and Mail"

"From the Hardcover edition."

" Lawson' s gifts are enormous, especially her ability to write a literary work in a popular style. Her dialogue has perfect pitch, yet I' ve never read anyone better at articulating silence. Best of all, Lawson creates the most quotable images in Canadian literature." -- "Toronto Star
"
" I could not put it down, but perhaps better to say that I could not let it go or that it would not let me go . . . Lawson transported me into a place that I know does not exist by taking me deep down into the story of a family whose fate is inexorable and universal. Her reality became mine." -- "Globe and Mail"
" One of the most eagerly awaited books of the autumn season. . . . The prologue draws you in, as does the novel, which is consistently well-written, involving and enjoyable to read. . . . Achingly real, known, [Arthur' s] inner life, with all its shifts in understanding, emotion, perception and conflicted impulses, is rendered with compelling force in concise, supple prose." -- "Ottawa Citizen"
" [Lawson] returns to several of the themes that marked her brilliantly successful first novel, Crow Lake. . . . Lawson' s cornucopia of novelistic gifts, even more bounteously on display in her second book, includes handsome, satisfying sentences, vivid descriptions of physical work and landscape and an almost fiendish efficiency in building the feeling that something very bad is about to happen." -- "National Post"
" An accomplished successor to [Crow Lake]. . . . With her cast of engaging characters, Lawson subtly but surely builds the dramatic tension toward a climax that changes thelives of both the Dunn and Christopherson families. Lawson' s story is a coming-of-age tale for two generations of young men, a community and a country." -- "Quill & Quire"

" There' s something timid yet masterful in Lawson' s writing. She neither wastes nor wallows. Her characters do not so much develop as blossom into themselves, one petal after another. . . . This is a book you will be driven to share with friends." -- "Gazette" (Montreal)
" A devastating story . . . about pushing fate and dealing with the consequences. The main characters of Arthur and Ian are expertly drawn." -- "London Free Press"

"From the Hardcover edition."

Lawson s gifts are enormous, especially her ability to write a literary work in a popular style. Her dialogue has perfect pitch, yet I ve never read anyone better at articulating silence. Best of all, Lawson creates the most quotable images in Canadian literature. Toronto Star

I could not put it down, but perhaps better to say that I could not let it go or that it would not let me go . . . Lawson transported me into a place that I know does not exist by taking me deep down into the story of a family whose fate is inexorable and universal. Her reality became mine. Globe and Mail
One of the most eagerly awaited books of the autumn season. . . . The prologue draws you in, as does the novel, which is consistently well-written, involving and enjoyable to read. . . . Achingly real, known, [Arthur s] inner life, with all its shifts in understanding, emotion, perception and conflicted impulses, is rendered with compelling force in concise, supple prose. Ottawa Citizen
[Lawson] returns to several of the themes that marked her brilliantly successful first novel, Crow Lake. . . . Lawson s cornucopia of novelistic gifts, even more bounteously on display in her second book, includes handsome, satisfying sentences, vivid descriptions of physical work and landscape and an almost fiendish efficiency in building the feeling that something very bad is about to happen. National Post
An accomplished successor to [Crow Lake]. . . . With her cast of engaging characters, Lawson subtly but surely builds the dramatic tension toward a climax that changes the lives of both the Dunn and Christopherson families. Lawson s story is a coming-of-age tale for two generations of young men, a community and a country. Quill & Quire

There s something timid yet masterful in Lawson s writing. She neither wastes nor wallows. Her characters do not so much develop as blossom into themselves, one petal after another. . . . This is a book you will be driven to share with friends. Gazette (Montreal)
A devastating story . . . about pushing fate and dealing with the consequences. The main characters of Arthur and Ian are expertly drawn. London Free Press

From the Hardcover edition."

"Lawson's gifts are enormous, especially her ability to write a literary work in a popular style. Her dialogue has perfect pitch, yet I've never read anyone better at articulating silence. Best of all, Lawson creates the most quotable images in Canadian literature." --Toronto Star

"I could not put it down, but perhaps better to say that I could not let it go or that it would not let me go . . . Lawson transported me into a place that I know does not exist by taking me deep down into the story of a family whose fate is inexorable and universal. Her reality became mine." --Globe and Mail

"One of the most eagerly awaited books of the autumn season. . . . The prologue draws you in, as does the novel, which is consistently well-written, involving and enjoyable to read. . . . Achingly real, known, [Arthur's] inner life, with all its shifts in under...

From the Publisher:

A powerful, heartbreaking story about tempting fate and living with the consequences, set like Lawson’s magical Crow Lake in the far north of Canada but with a magnificently broader reach.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0385340370
• ISBN 13: 9780385340373
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296