Editorial Content for Bridge
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Lauren Beukes’ new thriller features a protagonist who has the uncanny ability to build her own bridge to different points in time. It’s also about mothers and daughters and the often complex relationship that develops between them.
Beukes is a dynamic writer who excels in many genres. Her most successful work is THE SHINING GIRLS, which Apple TV+ turned into an outstanding series in 2022. She uses the concepts of time and time travel once again in BRIDGE, which proves to be a very effective plot device.
"BRIDGE is an exciting and challenging story as only Lauren Beukes can tell it."
At the start of the novel, 24-year-old Bridge is clearing out the house of her estranged mother, who has died unexpectedly. Bridge is shrewd enough to recognize that Jo, who was a neuroscientist, created something quite amazing: the “dreamworm,” which gives one the ability to travel through a variety of existences and time periods. This would explain Bridge’s childhood memories of bizarre adventures, as well as Jo’s delusions and erratic behavior, which negatively impacted their relationship.
Bridge is determined to find the dreamworm and discover the answers for herself --- at any cost. She also learns that when you time travel via the dreamworm, you do not keep your own identity. Instead, you are body-riding within the shell of other people, which makes for quite an unpredictable experience.
One of these realities includes a serial killer, and more than one feature individuals who are also in hot pursuit of the dreamworm. Beukes places this extra bit of tension within her narrative, which makes every single time jump that much more intense and adventurous.
The result is a tale that involves not only a myriad of different lives but also various international locations, providing a unique flavor to the novel. BRIDGE is an exciting and challenging story as only Lauren Beukes can tell it.
Teaser
Twenty-four-year-old Bridge is paralyzed by choices: all the other lives she could have lived, the decisions she could have made. And now, who she should be in the wake of her mother’s unexpected death. Jo was a maverick neuroscientist fixated on an artifact she called the “dreamworm” that she believed could open the doors to other worlds. But in packing up Jo’s house, Bridge discovers Jo’s obsession hidden amongst her things. And the dreamworm works, exactly the way it’s supposed to, the way Bridge remembers from when she was a little girl. Suddenly Bridge can step into other realities, otherselves. In one of them, could she find out what really happened to her mother? What Bridge doesn’t know is that there are others hunting for the dreamworm --- who will kill to get their hands on it.
Promo
Twenty-four-year-old Bridge is paralyzed by choices: all the other lives she could have lived, the decisions she could have made. And now, who she should be in the wake of her mother’s unexpected death. Jo was a maverick neuroscientist fixated on an artifact she called the “dreamworm” that she believed could open the doors to other worlds. But in packing up Jo’s house, Bridge discovers Jo’s obsession hidden amongst her things. And the dreamworm works, exactly the way it’s supposed to, the way Bridge remembers from when she was a little girl. Suddenly Bridge can step into other realities, otherselves. In one of them, could she find out what really happened to her mother? What Bridge doesn’t know is that there are others hunting for the dreamworm --- who will kill to get their hands on it.
About the Book
A grieving daughter’s search for her mother becomes a journey across alternate realities in this dazzling new thriller from the author of THE SHINING GIRLS that is "sheer thrilling madness with a big, beating heart that reminds us we're all connected" (Grady Hendrix).
There are infinite realities. She's looking for one...
Twenty-four-year-old Bridge is paralyzed by choices: all the other lives she could have lived, the decisions she could have made. And now, who she should be in the wake of her mother’s unexpected death.
Jo was a maverick neuroscientist fixated on an artifact she called the “dreamworm” that she believed could open the doors to other worlds. It was part of Jo’s grand delusion, her sickness, and it cost her everything, including her relationship with her daughter.
But in packing up Jo’s house, Bridge discovers Jo’s obsession hidden amongst her things. And the dreamworm works, exactly the way it’s supposed to, the way Bridge remembers from when she was a little girl. Suddenly Bridge can step into other realities, otherselves. In one of them, could she find out what really happened to her mother? What Bridge doesn’t know is that there are others hunting for the dreamworm --- who will kill to get their hands on it.
BRIDGE is a highly original, reality-bending thrill-ride that could only have come from the brilliant mind of award-winning novelist, Lauren Beukes, about mothers and daughters, hunters and seekers, and who we each choose to be.
Audiobook available, read by Lisa Cordileone
