London Bridges [Hardcover]

Jane Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2001

SEVERAL DECEPTIONS, Jane Stevenson's brilliant and highly acclaimed novella collection, was an outstanding literary debut. Now, with her first novel, she again offers readers a work of dazzling intelligence, elegant wit, and keen social observation. An affectionate homage to the classic English detective story, LONDON BRIDGES is set in 1990s London and crafted with a very modern spin. Its plot centers on a treasure lost in the Blitz and newly discovered by an unscrupulous lawyer, who is tempted by greed into a series of crimes leading to murder. A highly contemporary cast of characters assembles to confound him, including a charming and flamboyant gay classicist in hot pursuit of a sixth-century homoerotic poem he hopes will revive his flagging career, a young Indian lawyer fighting British prejudices of race and class, and a very nice dog named Alice. The main character, lovingly depicted, is London itself, in all its rich variousness. Among the novel's themes are the rewards of friendship and community. the imperatives of both preservation and change, and the intertwining, with unexpected effects, of lives in a great city.
A lighthearted work shadowed by moments of genuine pathos, LONDON BRIDGES is wonderfully entertaining. It will captivate readers with its high-spirited, stylish storytelling and playful scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel by the Scottish author of the well-received novella collection Several Deceptions is an unusual mixture of genres: part thriller, part social comedy and part, as the cunningly punning title suggests, a study of how a variety of different people make unexpected connections in a great city. The story revolves around an elderly Greek banker, Mr. Eugenides, living alone in an odd corner of the city, who is the only living link to what may be a considerable treasure, in artifacts and real estate, linked to a Greek-founded London church destroyed in the WWII blitz. An unscrupulous, snobby young lawyer learns of it and becomes involved with some cold-blooded Greek plotters in a scheme to confuse the old man and wrest the treasures from him. Meanwhile, Eugenides is befriended by Sebastian, a dashing, gay scholar of Greek antiquities who shares his love for classical poets. The plot lines converge when Jeanene Malone, a forthright young Australian student of Sebastian's, working part-time as a pharmacist, becomes suspicious of a prescription she is asked to fill by the crooked Greeks. Throw in Jeanene's Indian lawyer lover; Alicia, a cheerful crusader for open spaces who hopes to salvage the church site as a community garden; her ever-hungry dog Alice; Sebastian's rather square lover, Giles; and a climactic motorcycle chase through Gloucestershire, and you have a fair idea of the range of character and incident that crowds Stevenson's ebullient creation. It is rather overstuffed, in fact, but written with such tenderness, wit and brio, and deep affection for London and its people, that it is irresistible. National advertising.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Stevenson, whose novella collection Several Deceptions was favorably compared to the works of A.S. Byatt and Iris Murdoch, has written a tantalizing mystery. At its center is the discovery of an outrageously valuable piece of ruined property in the center of London, most recently owned by a Greek church. This forgotten real estate contains treasure both territorial and intellectual, and the elderly and reclusive caretaker is soon discovered and cultivated simultaneously by an endearing gay classicist, Sebastian, and the morally bankrupt team of grasping lawyer Edward and enigmatic and remorseless Lamprini, foes with quite different aims. The circle of intrigue inevitably comes to encompass a small clutch of young Londoners and foreigners, their eyes on the prize with quite a variety of goals in mind. From the first pages, in which the threads of disparate lives quite reasonably begin to weave around the treasure in a soundly classic plot, to the climax, a semi-comic chase uniting everyone including Alice the dog, the story satisfies. An evocative and witty romp through modern London, for all libraries. Margee Smith, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Printing edition (September 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618049347
• ISBN-13: 978-0618049349
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,406,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun -- Perfect For a Rainy Weekend, March 8, 2005

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: London Bridges: A Novel (Paperback)

This extremely well-written and entertaining book is a quasi-thriller constructed around an exploration of how people meet and forge their own communities. Set in London, the story is populated by a disparate upper-middle class cast of professionals who are entwined in a plot revolving around some valuable South Bank real estate owned by a Greek monastery. Events are set in motion when two different groups discover the existence of the property, as well as the possibility of the existence of priceless antiques in a safe-deposit box. The story opens with a prologue out of chronological order that foreshadows events to come. Then the reader is taken back a few weeks to meet the villain of the piece, a snobby but poor lawyer who is given the task of wrapping up the affairs of an estate that puts him in contact with the South Bank property and forgotten relics. It also puts him in touch with a cunning Greek businesswoman, and the two convince each other that they might be able to get their hands on these precious items by conning an elderly Anglo-Greek banking agent into assigning the lawyer power of attorney.

Meanwhile (a phrase much used in the book), an enthusiastic preservationist has discovered an old fountain and thinks the South Bank property (currently an ad hoc community garden) is just the place for it. He's comes up with the grand scheme to get the monastary to donate the land for the project, and ropes in his friend Hattie, who works for a foundation (trust in the UK) dedicated to the nebulous task of improving London. She brings on board her friend who is a campy gay classics professor who just happens to know the abbot of the monastary. It all gets rather complicated to explain, but soon these characters all start to cross paths, along with an Australian graduate student in the classics program who moonlights as a pharmacist, an Indian lawyer born and bred in London who works at the villain's firm, and various other minor characters. These are all well-drawn figures that occasionally border on cliché at times, but whenever we see them at work or at home, they are always doing things that give them depth and life, and Stevenson shows a nice ear for dialogue. Of course, everything is pretty much constrained to the well-meaning striving set of law, academia, trusts, art, and so on, but it's still well done.

The story walks that fine line of being literate without becoming pretentious. The "thriller" aspect almost borders on a Scooby-Doo story where the gang starts to put the puzzle together, but a murder keeps things dark enough to avoid tounge-in-cheekitis. There is comedy and wit, and the climax is perhaps a bit over-the-top in the wackiness, but Stevenson makes it work nonetheless. The plot does require one to go along with a heavy dose of coincidence in terms of these people all knowing each other, but if one can get past that, it's vastly entertaining stuff. The book also mainly succeeds as a slice of London life that is a homage to the bonds of friendship. There is perhaps a little too much detail of what people wear and their home decor, but its all within context. Of course, it helps if one is predisposed to books about London and Londoners, but it should appeal to metropolitan dwellers anywhere. A thoroughly fun book that will have me seeking out more of Stevenson's works.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, literate and a lovely read, October 22, 2005

By 

PamR "readyreading" (Oak Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London Bridges: A Novel (Paperback)

I thought this book was going to be a mystery, and it borders on being one, however as someone else pointed out it crosses genres and was much more. The story is very engaging, and the plot moves quickly, much as a thriller does. But this is no thriller. It is witty and funny in places -- I laughed out loud several times while reading it. It is intelligent, which is a refreshing change from so many authors today. Plus the characters are well-developed so you start caring about them. And it has a sense of place. I can think of very few "mysteries" I would say all that about. It most reminds me of my favorite mystery writer, Donna Leon, and that says quite a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed the story (which others have outlined and I will not repeat) and hated when it ended. I recommend it highly!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars untidy but fun, February 24, 2003

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Min "minlet" (The West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London Bridges: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a thriller of the sort where you, the reader, know the whole plot from the beginning, but are waiting on tenterhooks for the characters to figure it out. I found this a bit frustrating, particularly when their failure to figure it out quickly enough leads to tragedy. (I'm not giving anything away here that isn't on the bookcover.) But the real joy of this book is in the characters--some of them may be a bit stereotypical, but except for the baddies (who are fun in their own right) they are all vivacious and lovely, the type of people you'd love to meet at a dinner party and wind up becoming friends with. That's exactly how most of the people in this book meet each other--a combination of random chance and friend-of-a-friend introductions--and this "bridge building" is clearly the author's most beloved theme. The academic politics and land-ownership controversies were a little dry, but those plots are really just an excuse to bring these people together and let us get to know them. It's worth it.