The Other Side of the Bridge
CBC Books | Posted: August 2, 2018 9:14 PM | Last Updated: August 2, 2018
Mary Lawson
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 1950s, and the world has changed — a little, but not enough. (From Vintage Canada)
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 1950s, and the world has changed — a little, but not enough. (From Vintage Canada)
From the book
On a small farm about two miles outside Struan there lived a beautiful woman. She was tall and willowy with a lot of fair hair that she drew back into a thick braid and tied with whatever came to hand — a bit of frayed ribbon, an elastic band, an old piece of string. On Sundays, she rolled it into a shining ball at the nape of her neck and fastened it somehow so that it wouldn't fall down during church. Her name was Laura Dunn. Laura, her own name, soft and beautiful like she was; Dunn, her husband's name, solid and lumpen like her husband. Arthur Dunn was a farmer, a big, heavyset man with a neck at least twice the width of his wife's, and to Ian, sitting with his parents three pews behind, he looked about as exciting as dishwater.
From The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson ©2007. Published by Vintage Canada.