Chopsticks

“The Bridge” is a quiet, intelligent novel that fans of Jonathan Franzen, Elizabeth Strout, Ann Tyler, and John Williams will appreciate. Its plot unfolds over a single day, yet that day becomes decisive for the characters. The book reflects on love and family life—on the collision of desires and duties, on expectations that don’t come true, and on attempts to find one’s place. The novel was nominated for the U.S. National Book Award, and Time and The Washington Post included it in their lists of the best books of the year.

Sunday in November 1957: the USSR sends Sputnik-2 into space with Laika, and the entire world watches the news—among them the Beckett family from Newark. But for them, even more important is not the space chronicle, but a barely noticeable crack in the usual order of things. Virgil goes to church with his sons, then drives off to golf with colleagues. And Kathleen—once a promising tennis player, now a housewife and mother—unexpectedly refuses to go to her service, finds an old swimsuit, and goes to the pool, where she stays until late evening, not wanting to get out of the water.