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The Boy on the Bridge | July 17, 2013

by Natalie Standiford (Scholastic, July 2013)

A forbidden love affair and the controversy it ignites are common ingredients in a young adult romance story. However, Natalie Standiford throws a curve ball to conventions by setting her novel in dreary Cold War Russia, where American Laura Reid is studying at University in Leningrad. There are many rules, such as a strict curfew, and life is harsh for Laura and the other Americans, who are looking forward to getting back to the comforts of home. That is until Laura meets Alyosha, a Russian boy who rescues her from tenacious gypsies on the bridge. Alyosha is a free-spirited artist with a secret and possibly troublesome past. Their love grows quickly but each of them has to be careful as their moves are watched and American-Russian relationships are dangerous. As Laura’s semester abroad comes to a close, their time together gets limited and questions arise. How far will Laura go to stay with Alyosha? What are his true intentions in a time where Russians are desperate to leave the country?

It was really refreshing to read a young adult novel about life in the Soviet Union from both an American and Russian perspective. Standiford does a fantastic job of leaving readers in suspense of what is real and what people need to be willing to do in desperate times. This is a bittersweet historical read about star-crossed love without the fantastical elements, a true-to-life illustration of a country and many of its people in distress. 

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