Lying On The Bridge describes a perfectly ordinary post-war upbringing where money was tight and pleasures were simple. But the author, Esther Cohen, also paints a funny and affectionate picture of life in a family that was unconventional by any measure, let alone in the context of a Glasgow tenement.
Her father was 56 when she was born, a refugee, a chemistry student, an enthusiastic reader of Hebrew and ancient Greek, a soldier in The Trenches in WWI, and a Christian ‘missionary to the Jews’.
Esther Cohen recounts the ups and downs of life in a family home that sometimes seems to be in a parallel universe to the world outside. She shares wry and touching reflections on life with her three fascinating and irrepressible older brothers and the challenges they faced in trying to have fun within strict financial and behavioural constraints.
As a young girl living under a parental regime inspired by the more conservative strands of both Judaism and Christianity, her small rebellions were agonisingly infrequent and touchingly innocuous – furtively colouring her lips with a red Smartie for one.
The author introduces us to the foibles of her family and the compelling, at times hilarious, larger-than-life characters who populated her early life. While the subject matter may be personal, some of the underlying themes are universal. Reading between the laughs, we sense a child’s struggle to find her identity, and the development of a fledgling sense of morality.
Above all, quietly but deeply embedded in these stories is an uplifting sense of the unshakeable, unconditional love that binds a family together.
Her father was 56 when she was born, a refugee, a chemistry student, an enthusiastic reader of Hebrew and ancient Greek, a soldier in The Trenches in WWI, and a Christian ‘missionary to the Jews’.
Esther Cohen recounts the ups and downs of life in a family home that sometimes seems to be in a parallel universe to the world outside. She shares wry and touching reflections on life with her three fascinating and irrepressible older brothers and the challenges they faced in trying to have fun within strict financial and behavioural constraints.
As a young girl living under a parental regime inspired by the more conservative strands of both Judaism and Christianity, her small rebellions were agonisingly infrequent and touchingly innocuous – furtively colouring her lips with a red Smartie for one.
The author introduces us to the foibles of her family and the compelling, at times hilarious, larger-than-life characters who populated her early life. While the subject matter may be personal, some of the underlying themes are universal. Reading between the laughs, we sense a child’s struggle to find her identity, and the development of a fledgling sense of morality.
Above all, quietly but deeply embedded in these stories is an uplifting sense of the unshakeable, unconditional love that binds a family together.
