I had the honor of seeing Pat Conroy and Doug Marlette together at a book festival in Durham, NC a few years ago. The deep friendship and humor between these two men was clearly tangible. I was already very familiar with Conroy (love his books) but didn't really much about Marlette. He talked about his book “The Bridge” and the next day I picked it up. Being a North Carolina native I really enjoyed his description of life in the south during the 1930’s. But especially his telling the story about the mill strikes and the injury and death of many of the people that stood up against low paying sweatshop dead-end jobs. This is a multi-faceted lively read about the politics and oppressiveness of small (southern) town America. I actually spoke with Doug Marlette about him attending our Book Club meeting but alas our schedules at the time did not mesh. Since his untimely and tragic death earlier this year, his books have become even more special to me.

story of Pick Cantrell, a successful newspaper cartoonist whose career has hit the skids. In the grip of a midlife meltdown, Pick returns with his wife and son to a small North Carolina town, where he confronts the ghosts of his past in the form of the family matriarch and his boyhood nemesis, Mama Lucy. What follows is an extraordinary story within a story, as Pick uncovers startling truths about himself and about the role his grandmother played in the tragic General Textile Strike Of 1934

I wasn't sure i was going to love this book -- maybe because it was written so long ago? however it was a wonderful read. The characters are real and wonderful to talk about.