Earlier this week I read The Other Side of the Bridge. A few years ago I read Mary Lawson’s first book, Crow Lake, and despite the fact that I sobbed through most of the book, it remains a favorite. So I was eagerly anticipating reading The Other Side of the Bridge.
And while I didn’t sob my way through it, I still enjoyed this book. It is the story of Arthur and Jake, two incredibly different brothers who grow up in a remote farming community in northern Canada. The book alternates between them growing up in the 1930s and 40s, and their adult lives in the 1960s. It is also the story of the Depression and WWII. And it is the story of Ian, the son of the town doctor, who is struggling with what he wants to be when he grows up, issues with his mother, and a crush on Arthur’s wife. There is a lot going on in this book, but it still retains the feel of life in a small town…slow-paced, interconnected and intimate.
From brothers to sisters…the next book, which I read over the weekend, was Monica McInerney’s The Faraday Girls. Beginning in Australia in the 1970s and ending in the present day New York and Ireland, The Faraday Girls is about 5 different sisters (and their dad, Leo). When one of the sisters becomes pregnant, the others promise to remain at home until the baby turns 5. Therefore, Maggie’s upbringing is a family affair. When she turns 5, the sisters begin to leave to pursue their own lives, and one sister commits an unforgivable act (which you can see coming from a mile away, but I still won’t reveal here). As an adult, Maggie learns of family secrets and begins to better understand her aunts and her own place in her unique family.