The Bridge Ladies - Softcover

Lerner, Betsy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062467166 ISBN 13: 9780062467164

Publisher: Harper Large Print, 2016

Synopsis

A fifty-year-old Bridge game provides an unexpected way to cross the generational divide between a daughter and her mother. Betsy Lerner takes us on a powerfully personal literary journey, where we learn a little about Bridge and a lot about life.

After a lifetime defining herself in contrast to her mother’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” generation, Lerner finds herself back in her childhood home, not five miles from the mother she spent decades avoiding. When Roz needs help after surgery, it falls to Betsy to take care of her. She expected a week of tense civility; what she got instead were the Bridge Ladies. Impressed by their loyalty, she saw something her generation lacked. Facebook was great, but it wouldn’t deliver a pot roast.

Tentatively at first, Betsy becomes a regular at her mother’s Monday Bridge club. Through her friendships with the ladies, she is finally able to face years of misunderstandings and family tragedy, the Bridge table becoming the common ground she and Roz never had.

By turns darkly funny and deeply moving, The Bridge Ladies is the unforgettable story of a hard-won—but never-too-late—bond between mother and daughter.

About this title

From the Back Cover

A Bridge club provides an unexpected connection across a generational divide between mother and daughter. Betsy Lerner tells a funny, intimate, and deeply affecting story that’s a little about Bridge and a lot about life.

After a lifetime of defining herself against her mother’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell generation, Lerner found herself back home in the suburban town that represented everything she wanted to flee: namely the traditional life her mother stood for. Yet, when Roz needed help after surgery, Betsy stepped in. She expected a week of tense civility; what she got were the Bridge Ladies. Impressed by their faithful visits, she saw something her own generation lacked: Facebook was great, but it wouldn’t deliver a pot roast.

Tentatively at first, Betsy became a regular at her mother’s Monday Bridge club, falling under the spell of the intimidating game. Unexpectedly, the Bridge Ladies became a catalyst for change as Betsy and Roz reconciled years of painful misunderstandings and harrowing silences. The Bridge table became the common ground they never had.

Darkly funny and deeply moving, The Bridge Ladies is the unforgettable story of a hard-won—but never-too-late—bond between mother and daughter.

About the Author

Betsy Lerner is the author of The Forest for the Trees and Food and Loathing. She is a recipient of the Thomas Wolfe Poetry Prize, an Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize, and the Tony Godwin Prize for Editors, and was selected as one of PEN’s Emerging Writers. Lerner is a partner with the literary agency Dunow, Carlson & Lerner and resides in New Haven, Connecticut.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Large Print
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0062467166
• ISBN 13: 9780062467164
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416