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The Invisible Bridge

by Julie Orringer

In September 1937 Andras, a young Hungarian student, leaves his family and heads for Paris on a scholarship to study architecture. Before he sets off he is given a mysterious letter to post on arrival in Paris. It is addressed to an Hungarian woman and no reason is given why it cannot be posted from Budapest. When Andras arrives in Paris he becomes vitally aware of his poverty, particularly when he enters the home of a richer Hungarian emigre Klara Morgenstern. She is a young widowed woman, and he finds himself falling in love with her. As they begin to meet regularly it is clear that Klara is hiding a terrifying secret, related to the mysterious letter that Andras posted on arrival, which means she is trapped in Paris as war looms closer. And, as Andras and his fellow students' lives become ever more vulnerable in the shadow of war, the group must shatter in order to survive. Andras is forced home to a labour camp, his brother disappears and Klara risks everything to return to Hungary to be close to her lover.

 

Publisher: Viking
  • Julie Orringer

    Julie Orringer was born in 1973 and grew up in New Orleans and Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is the author of the highly acclaimed collection How to Breathe Underwater, which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts and lives in Brooklyn.

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