The Secrets of Love Story Bridge

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick 336 pages

 At first, I thought this story took place in Paris, as I’m familiar with the bridge where couples place locks to symbolize their love. Never been there, but I’ve heard about it.  However this contemporary story takes place in a suburb of London, Upchester.

Former architect Mitchell Fisher now spends his days cutting locks off the infamous “love story” bridge. The bridge is now more famous than ever since a famous boy-band, Word UP, filmed a video for their latest hit there.

Mitchell hates the job, but it’s a job that can give him more time with his 10-year-old daughter, Poppy.  She’s his only ray of sunshine in a life that if grief-consumed after the death three years earlier of his wife, Anita. Mitchell cannot forgive himself not being able to get to the hospital in time after Anita’s accident. 

One afternoon, Mitchell sees a young woman in a bright yellow dress fall over the bridge into the icy river waters below. Thanks to his quick thinking, he is able to save her, and somehow connects with her, although when he gets to shore, she is whisked off to a hospital.

Enter Liza, Poppy’s music teacher, Liza, who sees the dramatic rescue on the news. That woman in the yellow dress is her sister, Yvette---a sister who has been missing for over a year. Mitchell, Liza and Liza’s family join forces to find her. Mitchell, subconsciously, feels that although he couldn’t save Anita, maybe he can save Liza’s family.

“The Secrets of Love Story Bridge” is a sweet read. It’s one of those books you know it’s going to end happily ever after. Perfect for the beach or the need to escape during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.

 “The Secrets of Love Story Bridge” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Orchestra of Exiles: The Story of Bronislaw Huberman. The Israel Philharmonic, and the One Thousand Jews He Saved from Nazi Horrors

Orchestra of Exiles: The Story of Bronislaw Huberman. The Israel Philharmonic, and the One Thousand Jews He Saved from Nazi Horrors by Josh Aronson & Denise George  384 pages

I love the cover of this book---very dramatic with its string of barbed wire and Bronislaw Huberman playing his violin. I probably would have picked it up even if one of its authors, Josh Aronson, hadn’t had a book signing at the St. Louis Public Library. His presentation was wonderful.

I had never heard of Huberman until that night in January 2017. Aronson’s description of the great violinist birth reverberated in my soul. It seems that the elder Mr. Huberman had always dreamed of being a violinist. When his dream was thwarted, he decided that one of his sons would play. Immediately after Bronislaw’s death, his father looked at his hands and declared him a violinist.

Beginning when the lad was five or six years old, his childhood ended. His father demanded that he practice four to five hours a day. Luckily from him, Bronislaw was a prodigy. Be the time he was 14, he was playing concert stages around the world to great applause. He was making the money that his father demanded.

Bronislaw was a quirky, sickly little dude, but that didn’t stop his father from pushing him, and pushing him, and pushing him. Abuse takes many forms, and Bronislaw endured the verbal attacks of his father. But this is more than just a tale of child. It’s the story of how being that driven created its own dreams.

I think Bronislaw was a tad psychic. He felt that the Great War would happen and was sure that another one would occur. As he watched Adolph Hitler ascend in Germany, he keenly felt the upcoming horrors Hitler would impose on the Jews. Interestingly, Bronislaw considered himself first a violinists, second a Pole, and third a Jew.

As he watched Hitler deconstruct Germany’s culture. He vowed to create an orchestra in Palestine, a place where Jews were fleeing to at such an alarming rate that the world should have noticed that something evil was occurring in Germany.

Bronislaw worked tirelessly to get money, certificates, a rehearsal hall, and the musicians Hitler had fired get out of Germany. He pushed himself on world tours, speeches; he would do whatever it took to get someone to listen. He pushed himself to the brink of a breakdown several times before December 26, 1936, when the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra played its first concert in Tel Aviv, conducted by Maestro Arturo Toscanini.

One thing I didn't understand was how the number 1,000 wsa chosen. On opening night of the IPO, there were 71 musicians who had abandoned Nazi Germany. Not sure how the authors arrived at that figure, but Orchestra of Exiles: The Story of Bronislaw Huberman. The Israel Philharmonic, and the One Thousand Jews He Saved from Nazi Horrors is fascinating look at a story that had been largely forgotten, but shouldn’t be. This work receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Mountaintop School For Dogs and other second chances

The Mountaintop School For Dogs and other second chances by Ellen Cooney
293 Pages


"The Sanctuary. High up on the mountain, the Sanctuary is a place of refuge. It is a place where humans save dogs, who, in turn, save the humans. It is a place where the past does not exist, where hopelessness is chased away, where the future hasn't been written, where orphans and strays can begin to imagine a new meaning for "family." Evie is making her way to the Sanctuary. She has lied to gain entry. She has pretended to know more than she does about dogs, but she is learning fast. Once the indomitable Mrs. Auberchon lets her pass, she will find her way. Like the racing greyhound who refuses to move, the golden retriever who returns to his job as the Sanctuary's butler every time he's adopted, and the Rottweiler who's a hopeless candidate for search-and-rescue, Evie comes from a troubled past. But as they all learn, no one should stay prisoner to a life she didn't choose. This is the story of two women and a whole pack of dogs who, having lost their way in the world, find a place at a training school-and radical rescue center-called the Sanctuary. It is a story of strays and rescues, kidnappings and homecomings, moving on and holding on and letting go. And it is, ultimately, a moving and hilarious chronicle of the ways in which humans and canines help each other find new lives, new selves, and new hope."

A charming novel with excellent development of dog characters.  If you are a dog lover you'll like this book.