The Bridge of Years: A Novel [Hardcover]

May Sarton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1971

"Beautifully wrought . . . deeply felt and significant in theme." —Saturday Review

This novel, first published in 1946, is one of May Sarton's earliest and, some critics think, one of her best. It takes place during the years between the world wars and explores the life of a Belgian family, the Duchesnes, and their mutual devotion which intensifies under the shadow of impending disaster.

Mélanie Duchesne, mother of three, is an active businesswoman, whose courage, energy, and optimism bind the family and its farm together. Paul, her husband, is a philosopher, detached, moody, continually embroiled in the spiritual conflicts of a crumbling Europe.

The last years before the second war are tense ones, a time for stock-taking, for a quickening of the pace of life. But it is Mélanie who encourages her family to proceed with their plans, to continue with their way of life. And it is Mélanie who decides their future as the Germans launch their invasion of Belgium.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

May Sarton (1912-1995) was an acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (September 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393086526
• ISBN-13: 978-0393086522
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,255,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wistaria, November 27, 2004

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Bridge of Years (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) (Hardcover)

The Duchesnes lived on a country road near Brussels. They were a sort of magic family who nourished the souls of the members of the immediate family, servants, employees, and friends. At the opening of the book, Melanie, Paul's wife, is rejoicing over the beautiful spring day on a date in 1919. It is after the war in which so much of real living had been postponed.

Paul was a philsopher and perhaps he was a philosopher who should have been a poet. Melanie had inherited the Maison Bernard, a furniture business, from her family. The war intervened and her plan of having a William Morris-style craft collective had been put on hold. Paul and Melanie become interested in the rehabilitation of soldiers, in part to avoid facing their own problems in their enterprises. Paul and Melanie agreed that suffering did not make for generosity. When Paul's mentor and friend Schmidt visits the servants refuse to serve him because he is German. His visit enables Paul to overcome a five year stall in his work. Afterwards Paul writes out his ideas feverishly in some five or six weeks of single-minded concentration on philosophy.

Time shifts to 1930. The couple now has three daughters. Paul's book made little impression and so after several years he joined the furniture-making business. The oldest daughter is interested in stage design and enters a competition at her school. She is disheartened to learn later that her second place prize may have resulted from family influence.

Paul listens to the radio and comes to see Hitler as a sign of a sort of exasperated nationalism. Closer to home he becomes aware of Fleming nationalism. By 1936 the daughters are nearly grown and the servants are planning to leave or they have died. There is drama surrounding their friend Schmidt who seeks to leave Germany notwithstanding the Nazi affiliations, really because of the Nazi affiliations and influence, of his son and the desire of his wife to remain with their only child. He manages to leave for Switzerland. Later he determines that the right thing to do is to fight in Spain. In 1940 Paul and Melanie learn that Schimdt was killed in the bombardment of Madrid. The armies of the combatants of World War Two and then the refugees traverse the Belgian soil.

The books is lively, interesting. I enjoyed Sarton's treatment of European politics, events ranging from 1919 to the 1940's. Many of the issues she deals with concern status.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Every Great Author Writes One Ponderous Work, July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bridge of Years: A Novel (Paperback)

Although I am an avid reader of Ms. Sarton's work, this novel was hard to get through. I find the characters unsympathetic, and the story itself rather ponderous. As a seed-ground for her later work, it's worth a look; but if this is your first or only time with Ms. Sarton or her novels, look elsewhere, for there is some fine stuff.