Charlotte is getting her Toyko Drift on when she sees Maggie in a wedding dress standing on the edge of a bridge. After rescuing her, the two become instant besties... but their friendship comes at a price. Gloria Jean D’Argenio couldn’t land those jobs. Estelle Evans, however, could — the name just sounded better, the way Marilyn Monroe resonated more than Norma Jeane Baker. She rented a room in the Coliseum Park Building on West 58th Street, sharing the apartment with Laura. She spent her evenings immersed in Manhattan nightlife. One of those evenings, Estelle Evans went to a bar on Second Avenue. Just how understandable is it when a fight for freedom from British rule morphs into a devastating civil war? A war where friend turns on friend, where even families are divisive in their principles and their beliefs. Whilst I have to admit it was a slow start for me, not the story or the plot as such, just for me getting into it. But once I did, I was hooked and devoured it! Nevertheless I’m glad to have read this novel, and especially glad that it was featured on the Pigeonhole, since otherwise I would likely have missed it.

Joseph's family shelter fugitives and transport weapons. Joseph would never ask Winnie to join the fight; but his mother and sisters demand commitment. Will Winnie choose Joseph, and put her own loved ones in deadly danger? Or wait for a time of peace that may never come? Winnie’s development, both emotionally and politically, is interesting. From a family of six children, she is the only one living at home with her parents. (Home is just two rooms but in a well-maintained property, unlike the tenements that many families lived in at the time.) Winnie’s parents are ambivalent about religion and appalled by the violence that is rife in Dublin. Joseph’s family shelter fugitives and transport weapons. Joseph would never ask Winnie to join the fight; but his mother and sisters demand commitment. Will Winnie choose Joseph, and put her own loved ones in deadly danger? Or wait for a time of peace that may never come? I do enjoy books like this, I never used to read Historical fiction but find as I get older I am enjoying it more and more. Plus my history isn't the best so I generally find within reading books like this I stop and research & O'Flanagan does a great job bringing to life the characters and a time period of history.Established author and contemporary fiction writer Sheila O’Flanagan delves into the world of historical fiction for her newest creative novel. It is a love story essentially but not exclusively that, set around a rough and at times bloody period of Irish history and we get other veins of normality and harsh reality. Alcoholism, DV, family dynamics, love, loss, grief it is a mixed bag and envelopes the reader in the characters lives, trials and tribulations whilst giving us some important history with emotive moments. Dublin. The 1920s. As war tears Ireland apart, two young people are caught up in events that will bring love, tragedy – and the hardest of choices.

Munch was one of a number of exceptional portrait artists in Europe at around this time. In Austria you will find Gustav Klimt, an artist whose style was related, but also different in some ways. He also liked to use the beauty of the female body with his paintings, as shown with the likes of The Kiss, Judith with the Head of Holoferne and also Emilie Floege. Both Klimt and Munch would use expressive techniques, but the latter tended to use much less detail and concentrate more on creating an atmosphere within his work. Both are now considered amongst the most famous artists in history, and left behind two huge collections of work across a variety of different artistic disciplines. Munch himself found certain models that he would use again and again but in the case of the painting before us here, The Women on the Bridge, he would only have worried about the lady standing closest, as the others have their heads turned away. Utterly captivating . . . a story of love, war and how women will fight for the people they love' Cathy Kelly I was looking forward to starting this one, sounded just like my type of story and it didn’t disappoint. Her family saw things differently. They saw a girl too wild to be constrained, whose beauty signified danger, whose deep, melodious voice was a siren call, who had to be kept away from the older men who kept coming around, who defied them every chance she had. She felt at odds with her conservative, tight-knit family, whose dreams were largely circumscribed by the edge of Long Island Sound. The story being told through multiple narratives definitely adds to the mystery and intrigue of the story. The characters were all well developed and had a lot of depth to them - some a lot darker than the others.

Charlotte: immature 35-year-old with the critical thinking skills of a carbdoard box (also don't appreciate how the author made her "plump" to show she's a sad case) The writing is gritty and exciting, constantly leaving you wondering what is going on and who these people really are! I said from the get go that I was trusting no one and I’m glad I didn’t 🤣 The added letters within the book were a nice added touch and allowed the reader to see correspondence between the sisters and between Joseph & Winnie.

I loved the relationship between Winnie & Joseph and the narrative that followed them throughout was compelling and their relationship really had to stand the test.Three stars from me usually means that I believe the author has achieved their aims, and it’s a good book but that I personally didn’t fall in love with it.

In the 1920s, as Ireland is torn apart by the struggle for independence, two young Dubliners discover love. Will they be able to live out their days in peace with their families, or will the violence and their desire to commit themselves sweep them away? The Woman On The Bridge is bestselling author Sheila O’Flanagan’s first foray into historical romance and what a debut into the genre! Sheila’s immersive storytelling and beautiful prose transports the reader to 1920’s Dublin during the ‘Troubles’, perfectly capturing the bleak and hopeless atmosphere of these times as Ireland tears itself apart through conflict, and family and friends are forced to choose allegiance. This isn’t an area of history that I know much about, so I found the story fascinating and insightful.

The characters in The Woman on the Bridge are all devious, unreliable and duplicitous and the irony is, the one I suspected most transpired to be the most innocent, but I can’t say more without plot spoilers. This is where as a reader, I was lost. You have to suspend disbelief. Do you ever shout at the tv, hoping the victim will wake up and figure out they're being conned? I was truly hoping Charlotte would save herself. There were little nuggets but in the end it didn't matter. There are also intentional red herrings and untied loose ends. The ending fell apart & it most definitely wasn't satisfying.