The Woman on the Bridge: You saw The Girl on the Train. You watched The Woman in the Window. Now meet The Woman on the Bridge

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Charlotte's mom: her motto was "dignity always" but in reality it should've been "bitter always" or "misdirected anger, always" Sheila O'Flanagan has accomplished what many have tried and few have been successful at doing. She has put a human face on Ireland's history while making all the myriad allegiances, battles, uprisings, rebellions, and suffering understandable to the lay reader. It is obvious that this novel was intensely researched in addition to the wealth of the author's own family archives. Kaufman and fellow Times reporter Richard Severo felt something was off about the foundation and set out to prove their suspicions that it was fraudulent. In the process, they unearthed Kahane’s dangerous hypocrisy: promoting ethnonationalism and preaching against intermarriage while covering up an affair with a non-Jewish woman. “We could have changed the history of Israel,” Severo said nearly two decades later. “I wonder how many of his Orthodox supporters would have continued to follow him … if they knew the man was a charlatan?”

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! 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 🤣 Many, many themes are covered in this novel. The travesty of war, particularly civil war. The hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. The social disadvantages of women in the 1920s and 1930s. Tuberculosis that ravaged the Irish population during this time. This is well written and the descriptions of the war, are expertly executed. Sheila O’Flanagan makes the reader believe that they are actually part of the plot. I finished this book in less than 24 hours! There is just something so wholesome and nostalgic about historical fiction, especially ones that are set around real historical events. I loved how strong and revolutionary Winnie's character is! Her views on women's rights for the 20s is an amazing thing to witness. I also love how Joseph was just as revolutionary as his wife, he supported her views, he loved her for them and that is a beautiful thing to see. This was a compelling read, with a beautiful setting, the atmosphere was perfectly executed, I felt like I was dropped right into 1920 Dublin and I absolutely loved it.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.

Charlotte drives her Tesla through the countryside, so angry with her oldest friend Anne. As she rapidly approaches a bridge, standing on the edge is a woman, dressed in white and about to plunge into the fast waters below. The Woman on the Bridge is Maggie and thus begins an unusual friendship wrapped around toxicity that blows your mind. How much can life change overnight? Quite a lot it would seem.

When Kahane was assassinated in 1990, he was nearly universally despised as a fringe figure who had done great damage to the Jewish community. Yet thousands of people lined the streets at his funeral in Brooklyn. A booklet handed out at a public memorial contained glowing reminiscences, even from those who could not abide his ideology but found him to be a warm, loving man. Some parts I did find myself thinking, why on earth would you do that?! And finding it did have a little bit of an unrealistic feel, I was too engrossed in the plot for it to effect my enjoyment. Her name wasn’t Estelle Evans, and her story was even more tragic and upsetting beyond the dive off the Queensboro Bridge. She took her life because of a romance built on lies. For Michael King’s real name was Meir Kahane. She had fallen for a man who went on to become one of the most notorious and divisive figures in modern Jewish history. She would never know if he loved her or if he used her as he would come to be known for using others to further his own nefarious purposes.