Stevie‘s review of The Other Side of the Bridge by Katherine Swartz
Contemporary Women’s Fiction published by Tule Publishing Group 14 Jul 14
I’m a great fan of novels that follow the parallels in the lives of two or more members of the same family across the generations, and I can certainly sympathise with the situation that the modern-day heroine finds herself in when she decides to take on a house in serious need of renovation. Having not been to Greece since my teens (and even then visiting more of the islands than the mainland), I also appreciate reading a story set in a country to which I would love to return. Our heroine’s initial impressions, however, are much less positive.
Ava has separated from her husband, frustrated at his inability to comfort her – or even to noticeably grieve – after their much-longed-for child dies towards the end of Ava’s pregnancy. Having lost her job in a cost-cutting exercise and then inherited a house in rural Greece from her grandmother, Ava decides to retreat there until she can decide what she wants to do next with her life. Arriving late at night, she finds that the upkeep of her new home truly has been minimal and that the power has not been reconnected as she was assured it would be. Fortunately, one of the locals comes to the rescue, and her command of English is far more comprehensive than Ava’s minimal understanding of Greek.
After a restful night at her rescuer’s house and a disconcerting meeting with an old woman who mistakes Ava for her grandmother and begs forgiveness for past actions, Ava decides to restore the house to its former glory and then continue with her original plan of staying there. As she slowly makes the house habitable, she is befriended by a number of the locals, including a widower and his teenage daughter and a local school teacher who offers Ava a position teaching English to her pupils. In return, she lets Ava accompany her on visits to those few residents of the village who remember what happened during the War and may be able to explain why Ava’s grandmother left shortly afterwards.
Ava’s story is intercut of that of her grandmother, who worked somewhat unwillingly with the Greek resistance during her country’s occupation by the Italian and then the German armies. I actually find her story more interesting than Ava’s and would have liked to read more of what happened to her between leaving the village and arriving in England.
Ultimately, I find Ava’s development rather disappointing in terms of her final decision as to what she should do in the long-term, and I also find a few of the details regarding her communications with those she’d left behind in England a little off kilter in terms of the paucity of text messages compared to how many phone calls she received or missed on her mobile. A shame really, as the author is based in the UK, and I do wonder if the influence of a US-based editor is responsible for that little detail.
Overall, this story makes me want to read more about rural Greece, but probably in a historical rather than a contemporary context, although I may give the author another try in this persona rather than in her category romance one.
Grade: C
Summary:
Ava Lancet has lost her job, her marriage, and her baby when she discovers she has inherited her grandmother’s dilapidated farmhouse in a tiny village in central Greece. With the kind of emotional impulsiveness that has frustrated her stony-faced husband for years, she decides to move there and recover from life’s sorrows.
When an elderly woman in the village mistakes Ava for her grandmother, telling her, with tears trickling down her face, that she is sorry, Ava is both touched and intrigued. What is the woman sorry for, and what secrets did her grandmother keep? Soon Ava is discovering the surprising threads of her grandmother’s life, including her part in the local Resistance during World War Two and a forbidden love affair with a British SOE agent.
Spanning three generations and exploring the lives of two very different and yet surprisingly similar women, The Other Side of The Bridge will remind you how a fragile hope can spring from both tragedy and despair. Written by USA Today bestselling author Kate Hewitt, writing as Katharine Swartz.
No excerpt found.
