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Bridge

The dazzling new novel from the author of Apple TV’s Shining Girls

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Bridge

By: Lauren Beukes
Narrated by: Lisa Cordileone
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The mind-bending masterpiece from the multi-award-winning author of Apple TV's smash hit literary adaptation SHINING GIRLS, starring Elizabeth Moss.


In infinite parallel universes, there's a version of you who already has everything you've ever wanted. But 24 year old drop-out Bridge is paralysed, by all the other lives she could have lived, the choices she could have made, and now, whoever she's supposed to be in the wake of her mother's premature death.

They've always had a complicated relationship. Jo was the teenage runaway turned maverick neuroscientist who threw everything away chasing after an impossibility - a mysterious artefact - the dreamworm - that allows you to switch between realities. And now she's dead and any chance of reconciliation with her.

But is Jo really gone... or only in this universe? When Bridge and her best friend Dom stumble on the dreamworm, that does indeed open the doors to other worlds, otherselves, she becomes convinced her mom is lost out there. But the dreamworm is more dangerous than she can imagine, and she's not the only one hunting across time and space.

Page-turning and ambitious, BRIDGE is a dazzlingly inventive speculative thriller with an unforgettable cast of characters, and the work of a novelist at the height of her powers.

For fans of RUSSIAN DOLL, STRANGER THINGS, EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE, from Sunday Times bestseller and multi-award winning writer Lauren Beukes.


PRAISE FOR LAUREN BEUKES:
'A smartly written thriller that opens with a satisfying bang . . . splendid' STEPHEN KING

'Powerful and intelligent' GUARDIAN

'A major, major talent' GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

© Lauren Beukes 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

Crime Thrillers Family Life Fantasy Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime

Critic reviews

An addictive, fascinating and compelling page-turner. With an original take on the many worlds theory.
A high-concept page-turner
Beukes puts cerebral propositions into breakneck thrillers
Excellent
You can tell Beukes is having an absolute blast putting words on the page. Her fun is evident in the big, bloody action sequences; in the squirmy, almost retro grotesqueness of the dreamworm.
Bridge is a step into the offbeat, an imaginative stew of ingredients: neuroscience and parasitology, musical theory and Haitian Voudou.
Complex, challenging, gripping and thought-provoking. A morally thorny tale without clear-cut heroes or villains. Beukes does a skilful job of balancing desperate but very relatable hope.
A blend of sci-fi and thriller . . . I can highly recommend
Lauren Beukes' multiverse is thrilling-balancing madness, horror, and a big, bleeding, beating heart that reminds us that we are all connected in the end
I absolutely loved it. This fantastic high-wire act of a novel, accelerating to a heart-stopping climax, is at once a cosmic narrative on a grand scale and a deeply intimate human story. Bravo!
All stars
Most relevant
The postscript at the end is very reminiscent of 70s horror movies but considering how icky I thought the plot was going to go I was most thankful it didn’t.

A body swap story that is not morally bankrupt gets the thumbs up from me.

A huge sigh of relief

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