The Boy on the Bridge
Gr 8 Up-In this love story set during the Cold War, 19-year-old Laura Reid is an American studying in Leningrad. She meets Alyosha on the bridge near her dormitory, and their star-crossed love is immediate and dangerous. They live at a time when every move is watched and luxuries are scarce. Laura shows Alyosha what is available to foreigners in Russia during a covert trip to the Berioska Shop. In turn, he gives her a glimpse into his secret past and a present that creates more questions than it answers. As the end of the semester draws near, so does their time together. Although Laura has heard that Russians will do anything to get to the U.S., she doesn't want to believe that Alyosha might be one of them. Readers are left wondering until the very end about his true intentions. Standiford accurately re-creates the bleakness of life in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. This is a great book for teens who enjoy tragic romances with a historical twist.-Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Hudson Library & Historical Society, OHα(c) Copyright 2013.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.