Between The Bridge And The River

Two childhood friends from Scotland and two illegitimate half-brothers from the south suffer and enjoy all manner of bizarre adventures that are somehow interconnected.

The host of CBS’s The Late Late Show “takes us on a wild ride in his scintillating debut, a combination caper/morality tale with [a] barbed comic energy” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Two childhood friends from Scotland and two illegitimate half-brothers from the American South suffer and enjoy all manner of bizarre experiences which, as it turns out, are somehow interconnected and, surprisingly enough, meaningful. An eclectic cast of characters includes Carl Jung, Fatty Arbuckle, Virgil, Marat, Socrates, and Tony Randall. Love, greed, hope, revenge, organized religion, and Hollywood are alternately tickled and throttled as Craig Ferguson’s madcap plot unfolds. Impossible to summarize and impossible to stop reading, this is a romantic comic odyssey that actually delivers—and rewards.

Nelson Mandela is dead and his dream of a rainbow nation in South Africa is fading. Twenty years after the fall of apartheid the white Afrikaner minority fears cultural extinction. How far are they prepared to go to survive as a people? Kajsa Norman's book traces the war for control of South Africa, its people, and its history, over a series of December 16ths, from the Battle of Blood River in 1838 to its commemoration in 2011. Weaving between the past and the present, the book highlights how years of fear, nationalism, and social engineering have left the modern Afrikaner struggling for identity and relevance. Norman spends time with residents of the breakaway republic of Orania, where a thousand Afrikaners are working to construct a white-African utopia. Citing their desire to preserve their language and traditions, they have sequestered themselves in an isolated part of the arid Karoo region. Here, they can still dictate the rules and create a homeland with its own flag, currency and ideology. For a Europe that faces growing nationalism, their story is more relevant than ever. How do people react when they believe their cultural identity is under threat? Bridge Over Blood River's haunting and subversive evocation of South Africa's racial politics provides some unsettling answers.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning, fable-like short novel—by the author of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth—has been beloved around the world for nearly a century. This splendid and profoundly moving novel begins with a simple and seemingly senseless tragedy. "On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below." A traveling monk, Brother Juniper, witnesses the catastrophe and becomes obsessed with investigating the lives of the five victims in order to prove that their deaths had meaning. His mission is doomed to fail, but over the course of the story, the five unlucky individuals—a noblewoman, a maid, an orphan, an old man, and a child—come to life for the reader in all of their glorious complexity. Their intertwined lives—snuffed out in one shattering moment—illuminate the biggest questions that we can ask ourselves about the nature of love and meaning of the human condition.

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.

“In Bridge Over the River Why, the Coopers have succeeded in a dual task documenting their own journey through the grief of losing their son Eli by suicide, while at the same time providing a valuable resource for anyone who has had to face the same terrible tragedy. They start with the premise that “doing and feeling” are the key components of moving forward and have a core message to deliver: “as bereaved parents, we want you to know this is survivable”. This short book blends the personal inquiry of David and Deborah, populated with meaningful quotations and practical advice. They challenge readers to harness their own resilience and list a series of brief tips ranging from how to talk to friends- “the more we talk about the loss, the more real it becomes...talk about your child often”. Keeping Eli’s name in day to day conversation helped them move forward. There are different ways to carry on the legacy of a loved one. Some keep a photo album, while others focus on sponsoring a memorial lecture or a scholarship. In their search for meaning, the Coopers are committed to addressing a significant gap in the mental health services for people like Eli, by establishing Eli’s Place, a rural residential treatment and transition centre, dedicated to holistic therapeutic techniques for young adults. As a psychiatrist working in the fields of depression and suicide, I am inspired by this initiative and believe this is an important step in building strong partnerships between persons who have lived through serious mental health challenges, and those who provide professional care.” —Sidney H. Kennedy, MD Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Arthur Sommer Rotenberg Chair in Suicide and Depression Studies, St. Michael’s Hospital "This book is an excellent guide for parents and others grappling with a suicide loss. The Coopers are an authentic compassionate pair of voices that speak from their lived experience. Cross the bridge and take the journey with them. A journey of tears and ultimately, hopefulness." —Alex Shendelman, Program Manager The Survivor Support Program, Distress Centres, Toronto, and a survivor of suicide loss

"A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans ... stands witness to the countless lives played out upon it" and to the sufferings of the people of Bosnia.--Cover.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Across the River and Into the Trees" by Ernest Hemingway. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.