Bridget Duke is the undisputed queen of Winchester Preparatory School. The only daughter of a famous sports presenter, Bridget is beautiful and popular, and everybody at Winchester Prep loves her. Or so she thinks. At best, people are afraid of Bridget, very afraid. In reality, she is an unrelenting bully who is ruthless with the people she deems to be "wannabes," but most hurtful to those with whom she is closest.
As Bridget's friends and family begin to wise up to her antics and her crown begins to slide, Bridget feels the pressure and storms out of school one afternoon. As she ponders how people would react to her death, she drives up an embankment and into some trees. Now Bridget is trapped somewhere between life and death and is made to see through the eyes of those she hurt the most.
Bridget is the protagonist of debut author Paige Harbison's Here Lies Bridget. Written when Paige was just nineteen, this is a witty and entertaining novel that will appeal to fans of Gossip Girl and 90210. It is an easy read, and I certainly found it difficult to put down at times.
Here Lies Bridget opens as Bridget is in the car, hurtling towards the accident, and the first half of the novel deals with the events that lead up to that day. Many of the events in Bridget's childhood are also mentioned, including the death of her mother, the subsequent arrival of her step-mother, and her relationship with her boyfriend and best friend.
Knowing that we were heading towards the accident and some sort of reckoning, I wondered what more the author could add that would keep readers intrigued in the second half of the story. I am pleased to say that as the story was relayed through the eyes of five of the people most affected by Bridget, it was fresh and intriguing and indeed, a completely new perspective on the havoc Bridget had been wreaking.
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