The Invisible Bridge (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Andraska "Andras" Levi: One of three Hungarian-Jewish brothers who leaves for Paris to study architecture.
• Klara Morgenstern: A French Hungarian woman in her early 30s who is a ballet instructor described by Andras as a woman with "quiet, astonishing beauty." Andras is enamored with her.
• Tibor Levi: Oldest of the three Levi brothers who plans to study medicine in Italy.
• Elza Hász: The wife of a Budapest bank director who asks a favor of Andras to transport a package to her son in Paris.
• The Elder Mrs. Hasz: Elsa Hasz's mother-in-law who asks Andras to mail a letter once he arrives in Paris.
• Zoltán Novak: Manager of the Sarah-Bernhardt Theater whom Andras met while traveling to Paris on the train.
• József Hász: Son of Elza Hász who is attending architecture school at the Beaux-Arts in Paris while Andras attends the less prestigious École Spéciale.
• Auguste Perret: Andras' instructor in History of Architecture described as sporting a "short triangular beard with wax-curled moustaches" and a rimless pince-nez.
• Pierre Vago: Andras' instructor in Atelier, which is a combination of draftsmanship and painting. He originally served as French-Hungarian translator and later assists Andras in practicing and improving his French.
• Rosen: Apparent leader of several Jewish architecture students who befriend Andras. Rosen is described as tall, lanky, freckled with unruly red hair.
• Ben Yakov: Handsome Jewish architecture student in Rosen's group.
• Eli Polaner: Jewish architecture student in Rosen's group described as "small and light-boned, with a neat, close-shorn head and tapering hands. Becomes Andras' ally.
• Madame Marcelle Gérard: Lead actress in "The Mother," which is playing at Sarah-Bernhardt Theater where Andras is employed as a "gopher." Introduces Andras to Claire.
• Mátyás Levi: Andras' younger brother who is interested in immigrating to the United States to become an actor.
• Elisabet Morgenstern: Claire's 16 year old daughter who at first believes that Andras desires her and is attempting to win her mother's permission to date her.
• Monsieur Forestier: Designer and constructor of stage sets for whom Andras works as apprentice.
• Ilana di Sabato: Young Orthodox Jewish girl who elopes, escorted on train by Tibor, to marry Ben Yakov.
• Mendel Horovitz: Andras' former classmate in Hungary, member of the Hungarian Olympic team during the 1936 trials and Jewish laborer in the Labor Services Company 112/30 of the Hungarian Army. He was not allowed to participate in the games when he informed the team secretary that he was Jewish.
• Frigyes Eppler: The Jewish Journal editor who hired Andras.
• Miklos Klein: Young Jewish man in Budapest who assists other Jews at no charge to flee Hungary for Palestine.
• Major Kozma: The sadistic commander of the Hungarian 79/6th
• Captain Erdö: Director of a play held at the officers' training school for which Andras and József serve respectively as set designer and artistic director. He assists Andras by being a courier for correspondence between Andras and Klara.
• Szolomon: Jewish road surveyor for the Hungarian 79/6th who requests the services of Andras and József as assistants after the previous assistant was killed by a land mine.
• Tamas Levi: Andras's Son born during the war
• Flora Levi: Andras's Mum
• Bela Levi: Andras's Dad
• Klara Levi: Andras's daugther
• Adam Levi: Tibor's son

Quotes edit see section history

• “He could no sooner cease being Jewish than he could cease being a brother to his brothers, a son to his father and mother.”

• “In the end, what astonished him the most was not the vastness of it all—that was impossible to take in, the hundreds of thousands dead from Hungary alone, and the millions from all over Europe—but the excruciating smallness, the pinpoint of which every life was balanced.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Why would a man not argue his own shameful culpability, why would he not crave responsibility for disaster, when the alternative was to feel himself to be nothing more than a speck of human dust?

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• May God direct your steps toward tranquility and keep you from the hands of every foe. May you be safe from all misfortune on this earth. May God grant you mercy in his eyes and in the eyes of all who see you.

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• “And what if I fail?” “Ah! Then you’ll have a story to tell.”

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• It was like love, he thought, this crumbling chapel: It had been complicated, and thereby perfected, by what time had done to it.

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• He had the strange sensation of not knowing who he was, of having traveled off the map of his own existence.

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• (Engineering Marvel! Paris-trained architect-engineer Andras Lévi has designed an invisible bridge. The materials are remarkably lightweight and it can be constructed in almost no time. It is undetectable by enemy forces. Tests suggest that the design of the bridge may still need some refinement; a battalion of the Hungarian Army mysteriously plunged into a chasm while crossing. Some argue, however, that the bridge has already attained its perfect form).

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• But when he thought of the word mercy, it was the Yiddish word that came to his mind: rachmones, whose root was rechem, the Hebrew word for womb. Rachmones: a compassion as deep and as undeniable as what a mother felt for her child.

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• palimpsestic architectures in which the familiar concealed the strange and terrifying. In this inside-out reality, the secret of Klara’s identity had become a secret kept from her, rather than one held by her; now Andras, no longer deceived, had agreed to become his wife’s deceiver.

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• lemniscate of smoke drifting from his pipe, was its own special brand of torture.

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• tatterdemalion relic. On Friday he walked home alone, too dispirited to join the others at the Blue Dove—and there on the entry table was a white envelope with his name on it, the response he’d waited for all week. He tore it open in the foyer. Andras, you’re very welcome. Please visit us again sometime. Regards, C. MORGENSTERN. Nothing more. Nothing certain. Please visit us again sometime: What did that mean? He sat down on the stairs and dropped his forehead against his knees. All

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Budapest: The novel opens here.
• Paris, France: Andras attends architecture school in Paris.
• Latin Quartier: Paris area where Andras lives and the École Spéciale is located.
• Ecole Speciale: Architecture school that Andras attends
• Nice, France: Klara takes Andras to Nice beach cottage for his 23rd birthday.
• Modena, Italy: Where Tibor attends medical school
• Carpatho-Ruthenia: Andras serves on Labor Services Company 112/30 of the Hungarian Army within this territory which is the area annexed by Hungary from Czechoslovakia after Germany took back the Sudetenland.
• Debrecen, Hungary: The town where Andras' parents moved once they sold their home.
• Bánhida: The Hungarian area that Andras works in a coal mine and power plant.
• Ukraine: Andras, József and Mendel join the labor servicemen of the Hungarian 79/6th.

Organizations edit see section history

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• Le Grand Occident: A antisemitic organization in Paris
• Ligue International Contre l'Antisemitisme: A Parisian organization fighting against antisemitism.
• Labor Services Company 112/30 of the Hungarian Army: This company was predominantly staffed with Hungarian Jews since Jews could not carry rifles in the military.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Julie Orringer (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Amazon Best of the Month (May 2010, #2)
• Orange Prize for Fiction (2011, Longlist)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3615.R59168 2010
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

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