In the United States, this was a week to be Thankful. With so much going on in the world today, it is good that we stop and look to see where we have come from.
This is the case when a Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, witnesses The Bridge of San Luis Rey collapse in 1714, killing 5 people but saving himself from crossing at that exact moment. Believing his escape was based upon Divine Intervention of God, Brother Juniper strives to capture the fullness of each person’s lives that were lost to prove that he was saved by God. In doing this, he examines the relationship and choices of these individuals, one at a time. The first to be examined is Doña María, the Marquesa de Montemayor. An old woman, described as ugly, is estranged and distant from her daughter, Clara, in Spain. Letters were the only way these two women could communicate to each other, because of the distance in spirit and in proximity. Doña Maria takes on a companion, Pepita, who is not happy with her new role. She writes to the Abbess, from the convent she was at when chosen as a companion, of how miserable she is. Dona Maria finds this, and realizes that Pepita is brave in a way she is not, and the letters to Clara become more polished, so much so that they are studied in schools centuries later.
Estaban and Manuel, twins at the same convent that Pepita was at, also had a close relationship with the Abbess. She helped raise them, teaching them to be scribes, which led Manuel to meet and fall in love with Camila Perichole. Manuel, however, is cut on his leg, and while Estaban is following directions to clean it hourly, the pain makes Manuel curse his brother. After he dies from the infection, when asked which he was, he answered Manuel. The guilt and loss make him do crazy things, such as trying to kill himself. While he was not successful, he was on his way to buy a present for the Abbess when the bridge collapsed.
Lastly, Uncle Pio and Jamie, the confidant and son respectively of Camila Perichole, come down from the place she has hidden herself away after being scared by smallpox. Uncle Pio had hoped to bring the boy back to the world and prepare him for a future away from his mother.
As Brother Juniper examines each, ultimately making a “scorecard” for the souls that were lost. He comes to no conclusion, but faithfully put his account to paper. It is found to be heresy, and both the book and the Franciscan are burned.
After the funerals for those that had fallen, Camila Perichole seeks out the Abbess to see how she can live without Uncle Pio and Jamie. She becomes a helper for the Abbess as she begins to let go of her grand hopes for continuity. Clara also returns and works with the Abbess. The novel ends with the Abbess’s observation: “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”
So on this thanksgiving weekend, the only meaning that remains is Love.
The Source 4 Books 