Solace, Ontario. Clara, sette anni, è sconvolta dalla scomparsa di Rose, la sorella adolescente che è fuggita di casa dopo l'ennesimo litigio con la madre. Elizabeth Orchard è in ospedale, in fin di vita, ed è tormentata dal ricordo di un crimine compiuto in gioventù e che ha avuto conseguenze devastanti per due famiglie. Ma ormai forse è troppo tardi per rimediare... Il quarantenne Liam Kane, divorziato e disoccupato, è appena arrivato nella piccola Solace dalla grande Toronto e si sistema nella casa di Mrs Orchard, accanto a quella di Clara. Ma Liam sembra rifuggire da qualsiasi contatto umano, come se sul suo animo gravasse un peso indicibile... Tre personaggi in tre diversi momenti della vita, che devono fare i conti con una realtà fitta di silenzi, rimorsi e reticenze, ma che riusciranno a capire come un nuovo inizio sia sempre possibile.

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


From the Hardcover edition.

Set in the far north of Canada, this is a wide reaching novel from the author of }Crow Lake{. Longlisted for the Booker Prize, it's the story of two generations, with an irresistible emotional undertow. 'Like the great 19th-century novelists of

Quanto può amare Kate Morrison? Difficile rispondere... Nonostante sia giovane, intelligente e colta, qualcosa nel suo passato la tormenta e la rende incapace di abbandonarsi ai sentimenti, qualcosa che Daniel, il suo ragazzo, intuisce ma non riesce ad afferrare, frenato dalla riservatezza di lei. Un giorno, però, arriva un invito cui Kate non può sottrarsi: tornare a Crow Lake, il paesino dell'Ontario dov'è cresciuta assieme ai tre fratelli, Luke, Bo e Matt, al quale era legatissima e da cui adesso è divisa per colpa di un dolore profondo e di un'atroce delusione. Daniel insiste per accompagnarla, convinto di trovare lì la chiave d'accesso al suo cuore, ma lei è tormentata dai dubbi...

This slow-burning story is set in the rural "badlands" of Northern Ontario, where tragedy and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. It is a universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harboured and driven underground.

Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so emotionally pitch perfect, you know from the opening page that this is the real thing—a literary experience in which to lose yourself, by an author of immense talent.

Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the rural “badlands” of northern Ontario, where heartbreak and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur—offstage.

Centerstage are the Morrisons, whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is, in reality, insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt's protegee, her fascination for pond life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the state of her own emotional life. And she thinks she's outgrown her siblings—Luke, Matt, and Bo—who were once her entire world.

In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harbored and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control, continually overturning one's expectations right to the very end. Tragic, funny, unforgettable, Crow Lake is a quiet tour de force that will catapult Mary Lawson to the forefront of fiction writers today.

Kate Morrison e l'amore: un rapporto difficile. Lo sa bene Daniel, che è innamoratissimo di lei e ancora non capisce se questa bella e brillante studiosa di microbiologia sia capace di un sentimento profondo e, soprattutto, se sia in grado di esprimere quello che prova. Perché Kate non racconta nulla del proprio passato? Ostinata e silenziosa, non vuole parlare di Crow Lake, il paesino dell'Ontario dove è cresciuta. E neanche dei suoi fratelli. Ma un giorno a Kate arriva un invito a cui non può sottrarsi e che la mette di fronte ad una scelta molto difficile: deve permettere o no a Daniel di entrare nel mondo oscuro delle sue antiche ferite? Deve accettare questo amore, mettendo in discussione la corazza di rabbia che le impedisce di amare?