THE BRIDGE OF DEATHS is based on a 1939 Plane crash in pre WWII Denmark. It is a blend of Historical fact and fiction with a touch of the metaphysical and a little romance. The book is from the perspective of a modern day couple in London, UK researching the crash to uncover the secrets of their past lives. Historical data is carefully footnoted for the reader.
The Bridge of Deaths is a love story and a mystery. Fictional characters travel through the world of past life regressions and information acquired from psychics as well as Archives and historical sources to solve “One of those mysteries that never get solved”. Based on true events and real people it is the culmination of 18 years of sifting through sources and finding a way to help the reader feel that he /she is also sifting through data and forming their own conclusions. The journey takes the reader to well known and little known events leading up to the Second World War, both in Europe and America. The journey also takes the reader to the possibility of finding oneself in this lifetime by exploring past lives. FIVE STARS FROM THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Excerpt
“I knew we were soul mates from the moment I saw you.”
Maggie often started the conversations, even the everyday conversations. Bill was happy that she took charge.
“I know that I felt very comfortable with you.”
“How romantic, comfortable.”
“Not boring comfortable; exciting comfortable.”
“Exciting comfortable as in recognizing a soul mate?”
“Anything you say, Maggie.”
Her smile could have lit the city. Something had deeply touched him that night, and now he even enjoyed smoking. And that was good: one down on the perfect man list. Drinking strong black coffee in the mornings was another new habit he had picked up after the regression. She had not changed at all.
One evening as they lay in bed after making love, enjoying their Marlboros, Bill turned on the fl at screen. Maggie was about to protest at the interruption of their romantic moment, but Bill’s expression stopped her. It was a black and-white documentary with Neville Chamberlain walking toward an airplane to great cheers, and he started to talk: “Out of this nettle, danger. Will I pluck the flower safety …”
Maggie did not know why Shakespeare was of any relevance, but Bill was clutching the remote control pale as a ghost. He then started to shake and perspire. As she reached for him, he passed out; his eyes rolled back. She noticed he was breathing normally, so it was a shock; she found rubbing alcohol and with the smell got him to react and awaken. It took a few moments, but he was fi ne. Once he was well enough to light a cigarette, she decided to ask.
“I need to know what made you react that way.”
“The airplane.”
“I saw Neville Chamberlain was off to see Hitler …”
He interrupted her. “No, not that airplane; the one he walked past, the lettering on the wings.”
“I didn’t notice any other airplane.”
“He walked past an airplane, and I saw the letters that haunt my dreams.”
“Okay, let’s look it up.”
She got out of bed, took the laptop off the desk, and switched it on. Perhaps there was some truth to her mother’s astrological warnings; how her chart said that delving into the past might open doors she needed to be strong to face. Her mother had always warned Maggie that in past lives, we may not have been as nice or kind. So here it was, in a documentary that presented a doorway to World War II. Maybe she wasn’t going to like what she found.
Maggie started to search for Neville Chamberlain and Hitler in Yahoo UK and Ireland. When she found Critical Past and that the choice of videos of Neville Chamberlain was all related to the Munich Pact, she began to click. So it was that in one of the video clips she heard the voice from the newsreel in the background describing Neville chamberlain as a “gray haired knight” and explaining how Prime Minister Chamberlain had the “fate of millions.” The voice and any other sound faded as there was something far more important to Maggie in that black-and-white screen where for the first time she saw the airplane that so haunted the man she loved.
Professional Reviews
An UnusualYet Much RecommendedRead The MidWest Book Review
What happens in the moments leading up to disaster? "The Bridge of Deaths" follows the story of a true life event of a plane crash shortly before World War II of an international meeting of many individuals. Compiling a work of intrigue based on those who lost their lives and what they may have been seeking.
Join Bill and Maggie in 2010 London as through their love and curiosity they unravel the secrets from known and little known events in the 1930s. Journey to Denmark on August 15th 1939, at the brink of World War II where a British Airways LTD airplane crashed and sunk. Five deaths were reported: two Standard Oil of New Jersey employees, a German Corporate Lawyer, an English member of Parliament, and a crew member for the airline. The reader walks away with his/her ultimate conclusions. "The Bridge of Deaths' is an unusual yet much recommended read.
History's Mysteries Through Past-Life Explorations, Mallory Supernatural Afficionado
The author, M. C. V. Egan, is very forthright in explaining that she is not any expert on world history of the period she relates; in fact, she says that when she began her quest to discover events she knew very little of that era. So as readers we are reassured that the author is not spouting regurgitated history texts, but fictionalizing her own experiences and discoveries. She has no hidden agenda here, no goals except discovery. Instead she is forthright, sharing her explorations and their results with us, her readers. I enjoyed the manner in which she made of herself a character, sharing her actual quests and discoveries and setbacks, just as the fictional characters express their lives throughout the story.
I fell in love with the characters each from their first introduction. Although Ms. Egan uses quite a bit of narrative in introducing them, it's neither boring nor unsubstantiated, for within the narrative she includes dialogue (running in the background, as it were) and a substantial amount of action. She draws her characters in such a way that they are immediately understandable, and the reader easily relates and empathises. The author also has a very clever mode of relating her characters and their events to a background of actual world history in their particular era, which makes the book seem down-to-earth even in the midst of a metaphysical discussion.
She mentions in one spot "the most extraordinary feeling of comfort in simply being with her," and this is the experience I have of "The Bridge of Deaths." I am reminded of all those wonderful books I've read in which I feel as if I have just settled into a comfy armchair beside a roaring fireplace-I can relax, enjoy, and relate to the adventures in the novel as an "Armchair Traveler." This novel made me feel safe and warm, even while exploring the question of past lives, hypnotic regression, and the effects past life events and encounters have on our present and future.
This novel is fascinating: it has intrigue, romance, love that bridges lifetimes, soul mates, history, mystery, the thrills of the unexpected, philosophy, Spirituality, and metaphysics. It is a warm, cozy, comforting story, with the conviction running throughout that there is an Answer-and answers-if we can just persevere to find out. I eagerly await further novels from this special author. I know in the meantime I will be rereading "The Bridge of Deaths" just for the sheer pleasure it brings me.
From The Windy City Times by Tracy Baim
The Bridge of Deaths, by M.C.V. Egan ( AuthorHouse, $13.99 ) . This is a fictional account of a true story—the Aug. 15, 1939 crash of a British Airways plane over Denmark, before Hitler invaded Poland. The crash killed five, including author Egan's grandfather and an anti-appeaser member of the British Parliament ( Anthony Crossley ) . With World War II looming, the crash received little notice, but Egan does her grandfather proud in digging into the archives for some kernels of truth. She believes the crash was not an accident, and her 18 years of research make for a compelling story. "The Bridge of Deaths is far more fact that fiction," the author said. "My research opened a can of worms—and my hope is that the historical community will reopen this case to ultimately uncover the reasons behind the crash." This is not a gay book, and the author is not gay, but fans of historical fiction should be satisfied
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