Tarjei Vesaas's The Bridges describes the changing relationships between three adolescents - an unmarried mother who has drowned her newborn child and the girl and boy who befriend her. Their individual reactions to the tragedy and their efforts to communicate with each other form the central theme of the narrative. As strange, unsettling - and memorable - as The Ice Palace, this remarkable novel carries with all the compassion, human insight and lyrical power of a great Vesaas novel.