Hello, everyone. I hope you all are doing well. Today, I am back with a new book review. The book is titled “The Bridge Home”. This book is written by Padma Venkatraman. This is a novel and is a young adult fiction. Okay, so let’s get into the review. 

Eleven-year-old Viji and her sister, Rukku, live with their parents in a village in Tamil Nadu. Their mother married a man whom she loved from a lower caste. Because of this, her mothers’ family abandoned her and hence, the girls don’t have any relatives. Their father on the other hand is an alcoholic. He comes home every day after drinking and beats the girls and the mother for no reason. Because of their abusive father, Viji decides to run away from their home along with Rukku. They pack their bags and set out of their house before sunrise. They catch a bus and end up in Chennai.

In the teeming streets of Chennai, it gets hard for them to move across the roads to walk in a proper pedestrian. The girls walk without a destination. On their way, they stop at a teashop to drink tea. There, Viji accidentally breaks the glass cup in which the tea was poured. To repay, she asks the teashop man whether they could work in his shop. The man agreed and they went inside to find a woman, the man’s wife, working. While Viji does the dishes, Rukku helps the woman in making vadais (a South Indian snack). As a gift, the woman also gives Rukku a bag full of beads.

The same day, the girls meet two boys, Muthu and Arul, who were also wanderers like Viji and Rukku. Rukku also discovers a stray dog that she wants to keep. The four of them become good friends and decide to stay together. The main work of the boys was to collect some useful materials from the garbage dump and sell them to a newspaperman who would give them money in exchange. One day, the newspaperman comes and scares the kids while they were asleep. They end up running away from their tent and live in a graveyard. Life gets challenging because the monsoon starts and Muthu and Rukku catch a severe cold and start getting chills. The rest of the book answers the following questions: Will the kids get cured? And do they still live in a graveyard? How their lives get twisted from there on?

This is a book full of emotions and is a bit heavy in terms of emotions. My favorite character was Viji. I adore her because of her perseverance. She can take good care of her elder sister who is shown by the author as a slow-learner. I like Viji’s confidence and she is very mature for her age and can take the right decisions. Her character plays a very strong role. Out of 10, I would give this book a 10. I recommend this book for kids/adults who can read heavy and emotional books. I admire how the girls convert the beads into valuable necklaces and make a small amount of money for their living. This shows how anything is possible if you are determined and dedicated. Click here to check this book out on Amazon.

This is it for the review. Do share your thoughts in the comment section below 😁📰