The Iron Bridge

click here for more details, find new or used items	David Morse Used from £15.91 Pages: 436 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0151002592 Pub: Harcourt Pub date: 1998-07 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 909883

Reader Reviews:

Superb story, with truly exceptional characters (1/2 people found this helpful)

One of the two best books I've read in the past year if not longer. Morse brings two historical periods to life -- the world of the 2040s and especially that of the 1770s. The story is full of intrigue and suspense, and the characters are the most lifelike I have encountered in a long time. The main character is compelling, but at least a dozen others are fully drawn. Most of the main characters are Quakers, and the author, who is a Quaker, draws a thoroughly informed and not always complimentary picture of this small, historically influential movement. Just about the only feature that didn't ring true was that Maggie spoke using the pronouns and vernacular of the 20th century, which made her more of a stranger than she needed to be. Perhaps David Morse wanted to keep her as one of "us" instead of making her seem somewhat remote. The book made me think about how we live our lives against the background of history.

A book so important it should be taught in schools. (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book deserves to be a bestseller. Rich in imagery and depth of characters, it is one of those rare books one hates to see end. The juxtopostion between past and future is vivid and always fascinating. A cautionary tale, this novel is as important as "1984" and "Brave New World." The character of Maggie will stay with you long after you've put this book down. The ending was one I couldn't predict. "The Iron Bridge" is a significant social and historical novel that never ceases to enertain.

Wonderful escape into history (0/0 people found this helpful)

I have always enjoyed reading books about history and I wasn't disappointed when I read The Iron Bridge by David Morse.

After picturing the bridge and its construction in my mind, I then went to the internet and found pictures and additional information at the author's website.

More than just a good read. (2/2 people found this helpful)

What will the world look like 50 years from now? The prospect is grim, particularly in comparison to what was imagined 50 years ago when technology promised greater prosperity, health and happiness. The view that David Morse presents in his novel The Iron Bridge is so bleak that one woman from the year 2043 agrees to venture back in time, her mission being to alter the course of the Industrial Revolution. The plot is so imaginatively constructed that the reader is left wondering whether the heroine, Maggie Foster, was successful in her mission. Maggie's grandmother, one of the baby boomers, is the link to our age. Her philosophy is summed up in the advice that she gives Maggie: "Believe in yourself." The novel tests the truth and limits of such a stance. A stranger in a 1773 Shropshire village, Maggie must work alone on her mission and yet discover who she is through interaction with the people she meets. The Iron Bridge is both a first-rate novel of ideas and an absorbing narrative because of the finely drawn characters and the fully realized historical setting. While I was reading it, I could hardly put the book down; since finishing it, I keep thinking about the questions it raises. It's the kind of book that makes you want to have your friends read it so you can talk with them about it.

Once you start reading it, be prepared to finish! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Although I would not classify this as a hardcore science fiction book, other than maybe the first chapter it makes for great reading.

It does make one wonder what impact the development of iron and ultimately steel has had on our environment today (obviously a major one) - and what would have possibly happened if that development had not occurred, or happened in another part of the world, such as Japan. Is there such a thing as pre-destiny?

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