The Page Turners #2

THE BRIDGE LADIES: A Memoir, by Betsy Lerner 

Harper Wave: Harper Collins Publishers, 2016. 

BOOK CLUB CHOICE, October 2020

Reviewed by: Sally Goodwillie

When her mother needs help following surgery, Betsy Lerner steps up, although with some trepidation as a result of their historically difficult relationship. As she settles into her mother’s routine, she is re-introduced to her mother’s bridge club, a group of five women who have met on Mondays for lunch and bridge since Betsy’s growing up years. Initially, she views their get-togethers from the sidelines, but gradually becomes interested in learning more about their lives and approaches them to allow her to interview them individually. As she delves into their life stories, she is surprised, and even shocked, at the cultural differences between their generation and her own. Meanwhile, a new interest in the game of bridge leads her to a large city bridge club to take lessons.

The book becomes a fascinating progression of her struggles with bridge, her developing respect for the lives these ladies have lived, a gradual growth of sympathy and understanding in her relationship with her mother, and an increase in her own self-confidence. Throughout, this memoir is beautifully crafted and Lerner interweaves the many threads of her tale with humour and a very human touch.