The Forever Bridge

By T. Greenwood

Sylvie can hardly bear to remember how normal her family was two years ago. The night an oncoming vehicle forced their car over the edge of a covered bridge changed them forever: Sylvie's young son was gone, her husband lost his legs, and she was left with shattering blame and grief.

Eleven-year-old Ruby misses her little brother, too. But she also misses the mother who has become a recluse while Ruby and her dad try to piece themselves back together.

As Hurricane Irene bears down on them, and a pregnant teenager with a devastating secret gradually draws Sylvie back into the world, Ruby and her mother will have a chance to span the fissure separating them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Corvus
• Release date: Dec 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786490940

T. Greenwood

T. GREENWOOD's novels have sold over 300,000 copies. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council. Her novel Bodies of Water was a 2014 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist, and she is the recipient of four San Diego Book Awards. Keeping Lucy was a 2020 Target Book Club pick. Greenwood lives with her family in San Diego and Vermont.

Reviews for The Forever Bridge

[mootzymom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. The themes of bridges was a beautiful one and the depth of emotions for the characters was extremely touching. It was my first T. Greenwood and not likely to be my last.

[kikoa_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having Read "Bodies of Water ", I went looking for other novels by T Greenwood, deciding on The Forever Bridge. I have had major turns in my life so the subject caught my attention. I did hesitate because I did not think any Novel could outshine Bodies of Water. For the most part I loved this book until almost to the great conclusion. For a while things got caught up, like they would because of a beaver damn..Very bogged down and repetitively and boring. This cleared and came back to the great conclusion.

[jbarr5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Forever Bridge by T. GreenwoodBook starts out with days of the week. Each section follows a few different stories. Ruby is being dropped off at her mothers for a visit. Her father, now in a wheelchair has left his wife and will go back home to NC with his brother.Sylvie is rather a bit odd as we follow her life and her past, when the car went off the bridge and her young son died and her husband became paralyzed. Ruby has a few friends still there in town and they do meet up but Ruby can't swim although she goes to lessons several times a week with Izzy and Marcy. Those two girls are into one another that they don't even realize how much ti hurts Ruby that they don't pay attention to her.Ruby wants to make a bridge, to replace the one where her brother died. The sections also follow a girl who's about to give birth and has left her boyfriend and she's hiding out in an abandoned shack, til the night Ruby finds her.Sylvie with her pills is delusional and just wants to keep safe in her house but prowlers probably animals, are outside and they want to come into the house.Lots of facts about bridges around the world and how they collapsed and how they were fixed-she hopes to still win the contest.They are in VT and hurricane Irene is about to hit the Carolinas and travel up the coast. I remember this hurricane and the damage it did=to VT, so devastating to see.I had a hard time finding the connection between them all til I looked at the title again. Bridges do connect them together.

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story started out good but then it was just middle of the road but I did see a little glimmer of hope, so I decided to read a little longer and see if it would get better. Luckily the story did. The reason I had my reserves is because in the beginning I was not feeling the vibe with the characters or the story. Also, it moved along slowly with no real direction. Yet as I got about ten chapters in, I began to see the characters as real people and enjoy the story. Ruby and Nessa were my favorites. They were both vulnerable but had so much charisma. The way that Ruby craved for her mother was sad. Yet I thought the way she acted in this book she was very grownup. Than there is Nessa. The fact that she is a mute did not keep her from still "talking" volumes. I enjoyed this book.

[bookmagic_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

completed 3.13.15, 4.5 starsRobert, Sylvie and their two children, Ruby and Jess are in a terrible car accident where they go off a bridge into the river. Flash forward about two years and we learn that their son Jess died in the acccident, Sylvie is unable to leave her house, paralyzed by fear and anxiety. Robert, now in a wheelchair, and Ruby, live with his brother. Ruby no longer stays with her mom due to an incident several months ago that we don't know the details of. Robert and his brother must go to North Carolina to help another brother and to look into the possibility of moving there. They need Sylvie to keep 11 yo Ruby for a week.The story is told by both Sylvie and Ruby and Greenwood captures them wonderfully. Ruby, already struggling with a difficult family situation finds herself shut-out from her best friend who is looking to be more popular and she is all alone. Ruby is obsessed with bridges and wants to design a brilliant one for a school contest, though she avoids the one from the accident. Ruby also has a fear of water, she is taking swimming lessons over the summer but hasn't been able to get in the water.Sylvie is a recluse and interacts with almost no one. She obsessively checks locks and fear intruders with every noise. She knows she has disappointed her family and struggles to give Ruby what she needs. She is isolated, paralyzed by fear and her inability to control everything around her.Added into this mix is 17 year old, Nessa who is returning to the Vermont town she ran away from 2 years ago. She is very pregnant, has no money, and no where to go.The story takes place in the days leading up to Hurricane Irene, giving the reader more insight of what's to come. It is the perfect backdrop for this story of heartbreak, strength, and courage.T. Greenwood is an amazing writer. She is not emotionally manipulative with her writing no matter how tragic the story, yet brings so much depth to her work.I read and loved Nearer Than the Sky the first time it was released in 2000 and Breathing Water. I didn't realize how many other novels she has written so now I have a whole backlist to catch up on.

[jenn88-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Forever Bridge? More like The Forever Book. This book went on and on about nothing, really. Here is one story: Sylvie and her family, what happened that night on the bridge that would change their lives forever. Here is another story: Nessa, a young tramp who teaches Sylvie how to live again.

This is my first T. Greenwood book. I didn't care for it at all.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ruby's family was turned upside down in a single night on a bridge. Her father swerved the car to avoid something, lost control. The car careened into the river, Damaging his legs so badly they had to be amputated and his son dead. Ruby's mom, Sylvia, suffers a nervous breakdown and is a barely-functioning recluse.

[shazjhb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not great literature but a good story. Focus mostly on women and young girls. Good to read on Kindle while flying

[jessica8587 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Forever Bridge had me from the first page! I was so happy to pick this book up, I've been looking forward to it for a long time!BlurbSylvie can hardly bear to remember how normal her family was two years ago. All of that changed on the night an oncoming vehicle forced their car over the edge of a covered bridge into the river. With horrible swiftness, Sylvie’s young son was gone, her husband was permanently paralyzed, and she was left with shattering blame and grief.Eleven-year-old Ruby misses her little brother, too. But she also misses the mother who has become a recluse in their old home while Ruby and her dad try to piece themselves back together. Amid all the uncertainty in her life, Ruby becomes obsessed with bridges, drawing inspiration from the strength and purpose that underlies their grace. During one momentous week, as Hurricane Irene bears down on their small Vermont town and a pregnant teenager with a devastating secret gradually draws Sylvie back into the world, Ruby and her mother will have a chance to span the gap between them again.T. Greenwood paints a story so rich you feel like you are right there with the characters. I can't imagine what Sylvie & Ruby are going through, Robert either. Ruby has to grow up quick I think. Especially since her mother refuses to leave the house. I wasn't expecting the ending at all! I guess I should've seen it coming but I didn't and I love that it caught me off guard! I love the characters.. I love that they are all unique. From Ruby to Slyvie to Nessa.. I love the gritiness to her books..it adds a lot of emotion I think.Great story! Another great book by T. Greenwood!

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Forever Bridge by T. Greenwood is a deeply lyrical, often poetically written story of tragedy, redemption, and home told in three narratives; Sylvie, Ruby, and Nessa. The trick is to not give too much away while reviewing this extraordinary book. Sylvie’s family was forever changed the evening their car was forced off the edge of a covered bridge into the river below, in that one act Sylvie’s son Jess has died, her husband Robert has been left paralyzed, and Sylvie is left filled with grief and anger. Eleven Year-old-Ruby is also mourning, but not only the loss of her brother, but also her mother who has become a recluse. As Ruby and her father pick up the pieces and move forward with their lives, Sylvie is stuck in the moment all their lives changed. It is not until the week of Hurricane Irene that Sylvie is slowly drawn back into the word and as the Hurricane bares down on their Vermont town, Ruby and her mother may finally have the chance to fill the void between them and return to being a family again. Greenwood expertly crafts three storylines, which will seamlessly come together, meanwhile the character she creates are realistic, raw, emotional, and quite easy to identify with. Greenwood’s gift of storytelling along with the exceptional use of prose makes The Forever Bridge a deeply moving as well as emotional story. This is the first work of Greenwood’s I have read and it will not be my last, I am grateful to have found a new to me author. I would highly recommend The Forever Bridge to readers who are looking for a beautiful work of literary fiction as well as book discussion groups.

[judithdcollins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A special thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. T. Greenwood, at the "Top of Her Game!" A long-time fan of talented T. Greenwood, "master storyteller," deftly combines lyrical prose, beautiful metaphors, and heartrending human emotions of the heart, with precision, insight, and depth—once again, delivers an extraordinary story. THE FOREVER BRIDGE, a complex, wrenching, yet uplifting novel of loss, forgiveness, and healing. Two broken and imperfect families, three broken women torn apart by tragedy—desperately struggle to bridge the gap between past and present, evil and kindness, grief and survival, loss and love. Set in quaint fictional town of New England’s Quimby, Vermont, two years after the imploding of a family, left dealing with the aftermath. The night when certainties were shattered; a one-way bridge, rain, snow, water, another car forcing them off the road, one winter night, a family of four. The night the world changed, when all those safe, soft places became terrifying and dangerous. In an instant, a tragedy, an accident; taking the life of Jess, a beloved son, a brother; Robert, a former EMT father and husband, left in a wheelchair with no legs. Sylvie, the mother, now a recluse, suffering from agoraphobia, living alone, a broken marriage; Ruby, a daughter, a sister--a gifted, eleven-year-old living with her dad and uncle; with only one friend, Izzy, and a town feeling sorry for this sad and weird family, leaving her embarrassed to go to school. Sylvie, a former midwife, wife, and mother of one, instead of two. She is panic stricken, a recluse, PTSD, she barely can get out of bed, has no phone or tv, and has allowed her yard to grow up with raccoons living on her porch. She does not have the strength to be a mother to her own daughter. OCD when it comes to cleaning the interior of the house scrubbing to perfection. Insomnia, living off pills to get her through the day. Her only pastime is taxidermy, specifically birds another strong metaphor. One way opens to the world and the other shuts it away—she chooses shut. Ruby misses her little brother, she misses the way her mom was before the bridge, the night; she feels sorry for her dad in a wheel chair. She is alone, scared, and just wants normal. She wants to go home. Her mom is sick and will not leave the house, her dad wants them to move away, and her best friend is now mean.However, she is going to build a bridge; sketching, researching, planning... As the book opens, her father has to go on a trip with her uncle Bunk to the NC coast for a family emergency, and she is left with her mom out in the rural country, and the only way to town, is her bike. Ruby has only one friend Izzy and now she is about to lose her to another girl from school, Marcy and she is the third wheel. A gifted student, Ruby is obsessed with bridges, drawing inspiration from the strength and purpose and working on a special bridge state championship, sketching and creating. She longs to build a bridge which will last, one which will not crumble, like the people in her life. Presently, she has secret, Nessa. She has to help. She has a purpose.Nessa, a poor, mute, lonely pregnant teen of seventeen, has no one, living off the streets, and decides to return home. She has been on the run for two years. She leaves Oregon on a bus to return to Vermont. However, when she arrives, her family is no longer here. Her mother and grandfather gone. Alone, she has spent years with the wrong man, abused, drugs, regrets - with only a backpack, no money, she only has a piece of paper with a man’s name and phone number. A baby will be coming. Silence. She has a past she is not proud of and has to make things right. She finds a cabin near the river and hides out. Someone at the diner told her about a midwife. Then she meets Ruby.As impending Hurricane Irene approaches the east coast, the tension and suspense builds as we see the powerful strength and determination of three damaged and flawed women caught up in their own emotional storms of life – for a shocking and powerful conclusion as the three lives intersect. Finding their own road home. Powerfully written, an emotional account of the inner strength of women, friendships and mother/daughter dynamics and intimate relationships -- Leaving the past behind, burning bridges; something lost has been found. Something stolen has been returned. T GREENWOOD BOOKS: If you have read any of T. Greenwood books, you know she is unique (no author can write like her), the "queen" of eloquent prose and lush imagery, tackling complex stories of humanity —breathing hope, joy, and life into the pages, offering extraordinary insights and depth. This is my seventh book by Greenwood and find many of her books are centered around water and elements of the earth and sky, set in Vermont; each with profound meanings and metaphors. In this mesmerizing novel, the theme of bridges and the building of bridges is apparent throughout THE FOREVER BRIDGE as well as fate, loss, silence, and home; how the storm threatens all the characters and force them into action in their search for healing. Loved all the passages and metaphors of bridges. "A bridge is can be mysterious, intriguing, yet beautiful. People fear bridges. They are meant to connect people. Bridges fail. Something supposed to create a safe passage becomes a death trap. Sometimes people fail. No matter how safe you are, there is always, always the possibility of someone else’s carelessness."There is so much beauty in this novel, a book to treasure.Ruby, my favorite character; a courageous and tenacious young girl, facing one obstacle after another; however, she never gives up, fearless --sometimes acting as the parent in a time when they could not be what she needed. Loved her dreams, inspirations, and creativity and her strength caring for Nessa and her mom. Even when it seemed Izzy turned her back on her for a short time, she did not give up on her bridge project, her friend, and persevered.Hooked from page one to the end, bookmarking countless pages with stunning poetic prose--a complex tapestry of strong women, and lives entwined for a compassionate exploration of the power of love.Fans of Catherine Ryan Hyde, Charles Martin, Wiley Cash, Amy Hatvany, Jodi Picoult, and Diane Chamberlain, are assured to fall hard for this one. If you read only one book in 2015, THE FOREVER BRIDGE, one you will not want to miss!

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sylvie’s life has spiraled into agoraphobia so deep she cannot even imagine finding her way out of it. While most people blame her condition on the accident that cost her husband his legs and snatched their seven-year-old son away forever, Sylvie knows the truth. But nearly two years later she is on a collision course with a hurricane, a pregnant teenager, and the needs of her eleven-year-old daughter. Will she be able to find her way through the miasma of uncertainty and fear that imprison her when it matters the most? Can the complicated circumstances of life heal her fractured family and lead her back to the place where she desperately longs to live?“The Forever Bridge” is an eloquent, compelling tale spun out in the courage and compassion of the human spirit and the struggle to find the way home.

[kremsa-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received an ARC of The Forever Bridge from the Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The Forever Bridge is a poignant story of a tragic accident that has torn apart a family and the family's subsequent struggle to forgive and re-connect with one another. The emotional story is told from the perspective of the mother Sylvia, the young daughter Ruby and a homeless teenager Nessa and is set against the backdrop of an impending hurricane. Beautifully poetic and eloquently written, this powerful novel pulls you in from the start and doesn't let go. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Forever Bridge and would highly recommend it to others. I look forward to reading other books Greenwood has written.