The book and the bridge tells the story of two extraordinary events in my mother's life. One is about an encounter with a young man as she began her escape from Latvia with her parents and brother during WWII. While my mother's family carried with them one suitcase and a box of food, the young man was fleeing the country with a large sack of books. He gave one to my mother. It was called Pedejais Pagrieziens, which roughly translates as The last bend in the road.  The other event is the story of how my mother found out the war had ended. It revolves around an encounter beneath a particular bridge in Gusten, a small town in Germany.

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