Charlie Bray's review of Bridge Ices Before Road, as featured on The Indie Tribe

The book opens with Frances Orillio, like most children of her age, learning her way. But unlike most children she is not developing in the midst of a caring, loving family whose very existence revolves around its offspring. She is trying to plot a course through a plethora of secrets and lies, unaware of where she comes from and with little idea where she is headed. She is, nevertheless, brought up to observe certain values and standards, and to know her place within society. She knows that, whilst by no means affluent, she is certainly not at the bottom of the pile. She is taught that Negro children, for instance, play in their park and white children play in their park. When she challenges this she is treated to a back-hander from her dad for being ignorant. She is told to avoid certain dodgy alleyways around her neighbourhood, which are apparently infested by equally dodgy individuals.
So when she inadvertently finds herself in one, and is confronted by Mad-Dog Malone and her brother Tommy, her minder, in a dark alley, she is treated to a crash course in life at the bottom of the pile. It is during this encounter that the incredible skill of the author, Sienna Rose shines through for the first time. Almost paralysed with fear, Frances flays around for common ground in the hope that the similarly aged tomboy, Mad-Dog will refrain from attacking her. The superb dialogue that ensues throughout this scene, and the undoubted bond that rapidly develops between the two, is actually the catalyst of the whole story. We are privileged to follow the girls into early adulthood and to witness how burning issues of the time – homophobia, women’s rights, racism, abuse and hypocracy are dealt with so clumsily that, in hindsight, the reader’s toes curl with shame and embarrassment.
Another area in which the author excels is the one of setting. She paints a breathtakingly accurate mental image of the period, and is very adept at depicting every detail of deprived locations. The reader is actually in there amongst the characters. What a way to enjoy a book!
And quite apart from dialogue and setting, the main characters themselves are given so much depth that they will never be strangers to the reader, who will always care deeply what happens to them.
Two action scenes portray how adept this wordsmith is at that particular category. In one horrifying scene, Mad-Dog’s drunken father is violently assaulting his children, who try hard to protect each other. He is interrupted by an unexpected visit from the local priest, who decides discretion is the better part of valour and creeps sheepishly away. I was that absorbed and emotionally charged by the skilful writing of this scene that I dearly wanted to dive down into my kindle and sort Mad Tommy out myself. I know, they’ll be coming to take me away anytime now.
The other scene is a raging inferno, so intense in description that the reader does well to avoid being burned.
So, in conclusion this book excels in all areas. Relationships are tenderly explored, social issues are dealt with in keeping with the era that the book is set within, dialogue continually moves the plot forward, the setting is created with such clarity that the reader seems to be part of it all and the action scenes are quite breath-taking and often harrowing.
I cannot recommend this book strongly enough and urge you to read it.

The audio version of this book is due for release later this month and the narrator, Jeanne Whitehouse, suits it perfectly. She is a top producer for Audio Creation Exchange, and those who happen to enjoy audio books can be assured of a high quality professional product.