Synopsis
A Bridge In Time is an epic Southern tale that examines the ambiguity of love and loyalty. Masterfully constructed, its authentic dialogue and simplistic prose are evocative of an idyllic South eternally at odds with the outside world—a world that Garret Crane was thrust into during the Vietnam War. Growing up in Robeson County, NC, Garret had only to care about the girl next door, harvesting tobacco, childhood pranks and the football game on Friday night. He had a perfect life: good parents, better friends and the best young woman he could ever dream of by his side. His life was complete, and nothing could go wrong...or so he thought. Twenty-five years later, A Bridge In Time begins with the now hardened military officer, Colonel Crane, a confirmed and bitter bachelor, trying to make sense of his life. He is sitting in the formidable office of Dr. Virginia Pappas, a Stanford educated psychiatrist who grew up in the revolutionary California sixties, as far from Robeson County as one might get, and as true a foil as can be found. His current problem revolves around a past that he thought he had forgotten—a past buried deep in the humid farms of his childhood, where he abandoned everyone and everything that he loved. Now, this past has come back to haunt him, and he must reach out to Dr. Pappas for help, something that Colonel Crane is not used to doing. Tightly constructed around his sessions with his shrink, A Bridge In Time uses a unique narrative format to reveal Garret’s childhood in a series of flashbacks and anecdotes, divulged as context for the doctor to further understand Crane’s current situation. Starting with the first time he met the love of his life, Linda Harrington, in the sandy fields while hauling in the week’s crop, Garrett begins a sweeping, epic portrait of small town Southern life. There are first kisses, Sunday School hijinks, haunted houses, and even murder; there is an undulating political landscape of desegregation and presidential assassination. Everything that affected the world at large during that time is retold through the lens of Robeson County. Dr. Pappas eventually gets bored and urges Garrett to get to the point. Thus begins a give and take between the two, and a tenuous relationship begins to take hold—the cold distance felt between the sexes and Coasts slowly melts away, and as Garrett tells her about his conscription into the Army and his time as a POW in Vietnam, Pappas becomes more and more interested. Eventually, it is revealed to the reader that Garrett is paralyzed as a result of his heroic efforts in the war; it is also revealed, however, that he did not know how to handle it, and he feared his life would never be the same. As such, he deserted his family, and now fiancé Linda, and cuts off all ties with them, never telling them why, thinking that he would only prove to be a burden if he returned. Pappas, interpreting his acts as considerably less than noble—and in fact selfish—chastises Garrett for his behavior, and he finally understands how much his actions have hurt those that he loved. As Linda reemerges and tracks him down, he must confront those people and decide whether or not he can handle going back to the life that he once knew—but as a changed man. Exploring complex themes of gender roles, regional identity, the nature of love, sacrifice and ambition, A Bridge In Time reaches into the depths of what it means to be a Southern Man. With memorable characters, authentic regionality and gripping emotional power, Ben Frazier has created a novel that will force people to stand up and take notice: a new voice in the South has emerged, and he is here to stay.
About the Author
Benjamin J. Frazier enjoyed growing up “in the slow lane” amidst tobacco fields and cow-pasture baseball in rural North Carolina. Ben had a rude awakening when he went off to college in the late Sixties. The drug culture and sexual revolution had permeated life on campus even at conservative Campbell University in Buie’s Creek, N.C. With college behind him, he joined the National Guard in 1971. A year later Ben returned to work professionally for a little furniture company that grew from one million to one billion annually in sales. During his 28-year career in business, he traveled many times to Europe and throughout North America. Of all the places he visited, Ben confides that his favorite is traveling through eastern North and South Carolina on the way to Pawley’s Island just south of Myrtle Beach. One other special place, Doul Mountain Farm, is where he resides. Since retirement, he spends a lot of time on the veranda of his Victorian home overlooking a large catfish pond, where he writes. In writing A Bridge in Time, Ben drew upon his own roots and combined his considerable experience and vivid imagination to create the colorful characters in this heart wrenching saga. His other four published novels are Shelly’s Diary, Thicker Than Water, No Place To Go and It Takes More Than Preaching—the latter is also available at Amazon.com.
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