THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE

Dowdall offers a literary mystery set against the backdrop of a Canadian river town in 1962, where ambition and tragedy collide in the construction of a monumental suspension bridge.

The story opens with the arrival of Sister Harriet, a nun in her late 20s, in Bothonville, Ontario (pronounced “Buttonville”), to teach science at Saint Reginald’s, a prestigious all-girls Catholic high school. The young nun is already struggling to reconcile her religious calling with the increasingly secular influences of her surroundings. She also learns that she’ll have two additional duties at the school: to supervise and judge a miniature bridge-building competition for the girls (along with handsome fellow teacher, Mr. Monserrat) and to sit on a design committee for a full-sized bridge, set to span from Bothonville to the United States. However, over the course of the school year, three different senior girls vanish from the school, and the investigation into the tragic circumstances of their disappearances—by law enforcement and by Harriet herself—are a major storyline. However, Dowdall retains a focus on the girls’ lives and the ripple effects of their disappearances, always refraining from straying into lurid crime-fiction territory. In addition, because Harriet spent several formative years in Bothonville, her perspective offers an illuminating look at changes in the town amid increasing industrialization; her participation on the bridge committee results in her being caught up in this tumult. There’s also intrigue involving plans for a bridge in a neighboring town. Harriet’s inner turmoil and the town’s ambitions create a compelling tension, as her doubts about her faith and the church’s role in the modern world mirror Bothonville’s difficulties reconciling tradition and progress. Despite the mounting tragedies, the novel concludes on a bittersweet but satisfying note. Not all the plot threads are neatly tied up, leaving room for the messiness of reality—a fitting choice for a story so concerned with humankind’s imperfections.

A profound meditation on humanity and faith in a story of a small town with big dreams.