Bridge of Clay Summary

Bridge of Clay Overview

Markus Zusak's novel Bridge of Clay is a family saga, recounting the lives of the Dunbar boys (especially Clay Dunbar) in the years following the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father. Set in a small Australian town, and told from the perspective of the oldest brother, Matthew, the story follows Clay as he joins his estranged father to build a bridge over a treacherous river. In doing so, the Dunbars come to discover the events that led their father to leave them, going as far back as their mother's emigration from Europe as a teenager, and the story of their father's first wife, Abbey. Together, as they piece together their parents' pasts, the boys slowly reconnect with their father and come together as a family.