The Bridge (Gandolfo novel)

The Bridge is a 2018 novel by Enza Gandolfo. The novel is about the 1970 West Gate Bridge collapse, which killed 35 construction workers and remains Australia's deadliest workplace accident.^[1] The novel has two protagonists: Italian migrant Antonello, a 22-year-old rigger on the West Gate Bridge in 1970 and a survivor of the bridge collapse, and 19-year-old student Jo, who is blamed for a car accident in 2009.^[2] The novel was shortlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize.^[3][4]

The novel received generally positive reviews. In a review in Australian Book Review, Carol Middleton wrote that Gandolfo's prose lacked a degree of subtlety and elegance, but that she was a skilled storyteller and that her characters were highly compelling.^[2] Julienne van Loon described the book as "an ambitious, multi-generational story from a skilled writer" in a review in TEXT, praising both Gandolfo's depiction of Melbourne's working-class multicultural suburbs and the depth of her characters.^[5] The Stella Prize judging panel praised the evocative nature of Gandolfo's writing and wrote that the novel was "a story with many layers that is deeply intellectual and unashamedly working-class, showing Footscray and Melbourne's west in ways we’ve not seen before".^[3]