Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2013
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A new breathtaking novel from Natalie Standiford about love and trust during the Cold War.
Laura Reid goes to Leningrad for a semester abroad as Cold War paranoia is peaking in 1982. She meets a young Russian artist named Alexei and soon, with Alexei as her guide, Laura immerses herself in the real Russia - a crazy world of wild parties, black-market books and music, and smuggled letters to dissidents. She must keep the relationship secret; associating with Americans is dangerous for Alexei, and if caught, Laura could be sent home and Alexei put under surveillance or worse. At the same time, she's been warned that Soviets often latch onto Americans in hopes of marrying them and thus escaping to the United States. But she knows Alexei loves her. Right?
As June approaches - when Laura must return to the United States - Alexei asks Laura to marry him. She's only nineteen and doesn't think she's ready to settle down. But what if Alexei is the love of her life? How can she leave him behind? If she has a chance to change his life, to rescue him from misery, shouldn't she take it?
"Starred Review. Besides offering readers passion and suspense, Standiford raises thought-provoking questions about how far people should go for the sake of love and freedom." - Publishers Weekly
"This is a great book for teens who enjoy tragic romances with a historical twist." - School Library Journal
"An unlikely love story set in an unusual time and place; there are no happy endings or easy resolutions here." - Kirkus
This information about The Boy on the Bridge was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Tobias Everke
Natalie Standiford was born in Baltimore, Maryland.
In college she majored in Russian Language and Literature and went to St. Petersburg to study for a semester.
After college she moved to New York. Standiford wanted to be a writer, but she wasn't sure how to do that, so she worked in a bookstore and then took a job in publishing.
Standiford worked in the Children's Book department of Random House for three years, moving from editorial assistant to Assistant Editor. But ultimately she wanted to be a writer, not an editor, so she quit and became a full-time freelancer. She started out writing easy readers, picture books, and chapter books for younger children, and now she is writing for teens.
Standiford plays the bass in a band called Tiger Beat, with fellow YA authors ...
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
