The Bridge

About the Book

Italy. May 1944.

Waiting for the final push on Monte Cassino captain

Bere and his British survey patrol find themselves

bogged down in the Apennine mountains. Torrential rain

has turned the camp into a quagmire. Desperately low

on supplies, captain Bere goes again against his

better judgement and allows two of his young soldiers,

Goodman and Armstrong, to take a Jeep down the

mountain into Velino, a small hillside village ravaged

by the war. The plan is to collect whatever supplies

they can and return to base camp.

Driving through the valley Goodman and Armstrong see

that the river Rapido has turned into a raging torrent

and  is running dangerously high. Worse still, its

clear that the small wooden bridge they need to cross

en route to Velino may well not survive the volume of

water crashing downstream. A hasty retreat is on the

cards. However, once in Velino they find themselves

seduced by the warmth of Felices caf where they

enjoy their first decent meal in weeks and a little

too much wine. Precious time is wasted; and by the

time they set out on the return journey the bridge has

already been washed away.

Down by the river the soldiers radio base camp and

explain their predicament; but before they can receive

further orders Goodman and Armstrong are gunned down

by a small group of Italian partisans. The partisans

strip the soldiers of anything of useful and then

throw the bodies into the mutinous waters of the

Rapido. They drive the Jeep back to Velino.

However, Goodman survives.

Badly injured and in need of urgent medical

attention, Goodman makes his way precariously upstream

where he eventually comes upon an old villa set deep

in the Apennines. Here he is taken in by the lady of

the house, the mysterious Sofia, who nurses him back

to health. Sofia, a medical doctor, advises Goodman to

spend a week or so recuperating before making his way

back to his unit. Given his surroundings and the not

unpleasant company, Goodman is happy to comply.

But Goodman soon realises that not everything is at it

seems.

For a start he keeps having a recurring nightmare.

But is it a nightmare? Or is it in some way very

real? Almost too real. Always the same, it involves

a distinguished looking gentleman stalking the villa

with a shotgun.  Who is this man, and what does he

want? And one night, during a lively barbecue in the

courtyard of the villa, this same gentleman suddenly

arrives and for whatever reason sets about confronting

Sofia. When he asks Sofia for explanations about his

nightmares and about the man with the shotgun, Goodman

finds himself being given half-truths and riddles.

Confused and angry, Goodman has difficulty

distinguishing between his dreams and the everyday

world of life in and around the villa. On top of this,

he finds himself attracted to Maria, a local beauty,

who lives by herself in an isolated cottage on the

outskirts of a wood just below the Apennines.

Meanwhile, back at base camp, captain Bere decides he

has little alternative but to spend at least one day

searching for Goodman and Armstrong. Given their last

radio message he suspects the two soldiers are dead,

but nevertheless he feels he owes it to their families

and himself to try and find out what really happened

down by the river. Depressed and concerned Bere and

his patrol set out on a hazardous journey down the

mountain. When they eventually reach Velino they find

the village has been destroyed, washed away by the

flood and a deluge of mud that has erupted off the

mountain like a volcano. In vain they search for the

two soldiers before making their way dejectedly back

to base camp.

Back at the villa Goodman comes under the spell of

not only Maria but also Sofia; and the young soldier,

now almost fully recovered, finds himself having

passionate affairs with both women at the same tim

About the Author

A former stage actor James Allan Kennedy has been writing seriously for about ten years. During this time he has written eight screenplays, two novels and a number of short stories. He lives in the United Kingdom, in Cornwall, with his wife Dorothy and is currently working on his third novel Molly & Malone.