How a teenage girl handles the discovery that her father has another child. ( )

This man really has a knack for writing dynamic female characters, it's quite impressive. This book could almost be in the Sally Lockheart Trilogy (The Ruby in the Smoke). It's basically a Victorian thriller for a younger audience, set in Wales. Interesting. Pullman makes it work though. It's just dark and mysterious and slightly insane enough to be intriguing, but it's not overwhelming. ( )

Pullman really draws you into the mysteries: both of the Broken Bridge itself and of Ginny's past, what is the connection? I really enjoyed reading this, and particularly loved the fact he managed to make me, a non-artist, feel what it might be like to be drawn to paint, or indeed to write. ( )

A teen-angst novel centred on the heroine's crisis of personal identity and trust in her father when she discovers that much of what she knows of her family and origin is an invention. Enjoyable, with some memorable scenes, though one or two characters are over-caricatured to make a point. MB 9-iv-2008 ( )

first line: "One day in the school playground they'd said, Eeny, meeny, miney, Mo', Catch a nigger by his toe, and they'd all looked at Ginny and laughed."

If I had to label it, I'd call The Broken Bridge a coming-of-age novel. The protagonist, Ginny, is a biracial girl living in England with her white father. Pullman deftly and unflinchingly handles weighty themes -- race, abuse, abandonment -- and the fact that there's always more innocence to be lost. Still, the dark aspects of the story are balanced by love and strength and simple joys. ( )