Bridge of Clay
The redemptive, joyous bestseller by the author of THE BOOK THIEF
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4.0 • 42 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
‘Achingly moving, delightfully funny, and thoroughly uplifting.’ M L STEDMAN, author of THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS
‘This book BLEW ME AWAY' JODI PICOULT
‘Rowdy and joyous, with flashes of wit and insight, and ultimately moving’ TIMES
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Our mother was dead. Our father had fled.
Five Dunbar brothers are living – fighting, loving, grieving – in the perfect chaos of a house without grown-ups.
This is a family rocked by tragedy and long buried secrets. To understand his family’s story, Matthew Dunbar must travel to find three things. A lost typewriter -- A dead dog -- The bones of the snake that killed it.
He will learn of a mother who crosses continents for a new home; of a father searching for love in the keys of an old piano; and, finally, of a brother named Clay, who will make the most challenging journey of them all, and change their lives for ever.
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Readers love Bridge of Clay:
***** ‘Page upon glorious page left my heart bruised, but gratefully beating’
***** ‘A book rarely touches me so emotionally’
***** ‘Original, compelling and richly resonant’
'One of those monumental books that can draw you across space and time' WASHINGTON POST
'This book blew me away' JODI PICOULT
'Devastating, demanding, deeply moving' WALL STREET JOURNAL
'Moving and epic' STYLIST
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This exquisitely written multigenerational family saga by Zusak (The Book Thief), his first novel in 13 years, weaves the story of a missing father and a bridge-building brother. The five Dunbar brothers are beholden to only themselves after the death of their mother and abandonment by their father ("Our mother was dead./ Our father had fled"). Matthew, the eldest, puts their story to paper by way of "the old TW," a typewriter: "Let me tell you about our brother./ The fourth Dunbar boy named Clay./ Everything happened to him./ We were all of us changed through him." Slipping back and forth in time, the book maps a complex history: grown and married with two children, Matthew recounts their mother's immigration to the United States at age 18, their father's upbringing and first marriage, and young life in the chaotic, loving Dunbar household of five boys then devastation after their father disappears. The deftly woven threads build tension as Zusak's skillful use of foreshadowing and symbolism brings long-held secrets to the surface. With heft and historical scope, Zusak creates a sensitively rendered tale of loss, grief, and guilt's manifestations. Ages 14 up.
Customer Reviews
Bridge of clay
Very boring book. The characters just didn’t gel at all I was glad when I’d finished it. I read it because I enjoyed the book thief but I now will not be reading another book by Markus Zusak