Alexander''s Bridge

''The time will come when she will be ranked above Hemingway'' LEON EDEL

''Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic'' HELEN DUNMORE

''She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century''s greatest American writers'' OBSERVER

''Something had broken loose in him of which he knew nothing except that it was sullen and powerful, that it wrung and tortured him.''

Bartley Alexander, an engineer famous for the audacious structure of his North American bridges is at the height of his reputation. He has a distinguished and beautiful wife and an enviable Boston home. Then, on a trip to London, he meets again the Irish actress he had once loved. Their affair resumes and Alexander finds himself caught in a transatlantic tug of emotions - between the wife who has supported his career with understanding and strength and Hilda, whose impulsiveness and generosity restore to him the passion and energy of his youth. Alongside this personal dilemma, there are ominous signs of strain in his professional life . . .

in this, her first novel, originally published in 1912, Willa Cather sympathetically explores the struggle between opposing sides of the self which was to become a hallmark of her craft.

Willa Cather (1937-1947), one of America''s finest writers, is the author of twelve novels.