The One-Way Bridge - by Cathie Pelletier (Paperback)

About the Book

Pelletier draws readers back to the beloved town of Mattagash, a seemingly quiet New England outpost in Maine. Yet Mattagash is anything but tranquil. While its citizens bicker publicly over small-town issues, they privately struggle through deeper life issues.

Book Synopsis

"Cathie Pelletier is one of my favorite novelists, and she's at the top of her game with The One-Way Bridge."--Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone

In her highly anticipated new novel, acclaimed literary master Cathie Pelletier returns to Mattagash, Maine, the beloved New England town where it all started.

Welcome to Mattagash, the last town in the middle of the northern Maine wilderness. The road dead-ends here, but Mattagash's citizens are fiercely proud.

Yet this simple town connected by a single one-way bridge is anything but tranquil. While neighbors bicker publicly over trivialities such as offensive mailbox designs and gossip about suspicious newcomers, they privately struggle to navigate deeper issues--scandals, loss, failed ambitions, the scars of war...and a mysterious dead body in the woods.

With her trademark wit and keen eye for detail, Pelletier has assembled an unforgettable cast of endearing and eccentric characters, from scheming mailmen and peeping toms to lovesick waitresses and loggers whose underhandedness belies their ingenuity. The citizens of Mattagash will make you laugh and cheer for them as they stumble into one another's lives and strive to define themselves in a changing world that threatens to leave them behind.

The One-Way Bridge is an extraordinary portrait of family, loneliness, and community--and the kinds of compromises we all make in the name of love.

Praise for The One-Way Bridge:

"The One-Way Bridge is the novel Cathie Pelletier fans have long awaited. Her Mattagash, Maine, is one of the most fully realized fictional locales I've ever visited, it's geography as vivid and precise as any actual place, its citizens as real and compelling as our own friends and neighbors."--Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls

"In her new book, Cathie Pelletier's brilliantly drawn, true-to-life characters break your heart and make you laugh at the same time, a rare talent indeed."--Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café

Review Quotes

"It's hilarious. If you go to Maine, you'll love it." - Danvers reads

"Pelletier writes about each of the characters' lives with a mixture of humor and gravity." - Bangor Daily News

"The author has a lyrical, almost musical way of describing things at times which is entirely enjoyable and a great credit to her writing ability. The descriptions were so rich and detailed, but not unnecessarily so that it was easy to picture each and everything described within." - Novels Escape

"The novel brings the Mattagash story into the current era. " - Portland Press Herald

"The novel is quirky and delightfully eccentric with some truly comedic moments. " - BookN Around

"This is a lovely Southern small town story set in the North. By that I mean it has the usual ingredients of the small town, character driven Southern story where all the people are a bit quirky and have those hidden little family secrets that often slowly eek out into the story as a mystery or event takes place." - Dew on the Kudzu

"What really stood out in this story for me were the characters. They literally jump off the page. You feel like you know these people. Sharing their joyful moments, sometimes painful memories, their dreams, expectations, losses... This was the first novel I've read by Cathie Pelletier but it certainly won't be my last." - My Real Life Reviews

This particular tale of two men coming to loggerheads on a one-way bridge isn't peculiar; it hums softly with authenticity and sincerity.

""Pelletier's long-awaited addition to the tragicomic annals of fictional Mattagash, Maine, [The "One-Way Bridge" is] a welcome return for the author." " - Kirkus

"Pelletier expertly jumps about her large cast, showing their external peculiarities and revealing their inner lives piece by piece until their actions shift from strange to unavoidable... Pelletier's fans and readers fond of quirky small town tales will enjoy the ride." - Publishers Weekly

"I loved [The "One-Way Bridge"]...[Pelletier's] characters, with all of their flaws and synchronicities, are all believable and lovable. I've looked forward to a new book by Cathie for some time and she hasn't disappointed with this one. " - Susan Porter, Maine Coast Book Shop

"Cathie does a wonderful job of capturing [her characters'] moods and loves and losses, and yearnings...Her writing is lovely and so descriptive" - Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books