To the Bridge Audiobook By Nancy Rommelmann cover art

To the Bridge

A True Story of Motherhood and Murder

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To the Bridge

By: Nancy Rommelmann
Narrated by: Nancy Rommelmann
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The case was closed, but for journalist Nancy Rommelmann, the mystery remained: What made a mother want to murder her own children?

On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.

Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda’s fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River.

Excerpt from Day Out of Days: Stories, by Sam Shepard, © 2010 by Sam Shepard. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt from Netherland: A Novel, by Joseph O’Neill, © 2008 by Joseph O’Neill. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt from Iphigenia in Forest Hills, by Janet Malcolm, © 2011 by Janet Malcolm. Used by permission of Yale University Press. Excerpt from Down City, by Leah Carroll, © 2017 by Leah Carroll. Used by permission of Hachette Book Group USA.

©2018 Nancy Rommelmann (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Criminology Gender Studies Murder Social Sciences Sociology True Crime Violence in Society Emotionally Gripping

Editorial Review

Mother-child murder is not always what it seems

Great true crime transcends the basic story it is telling by shedding light on the darkest sides of our human nature. To the Bridge succeeds in that endeavor many times over. This story is absolutely not for the faint of heart; it's a tearjerker, and while the tagline on the cover of this audiobook reads "A True Story of Motherhood and Murder," I only believe half of that to be true. It is absolutely a story of murder, but chalking this up to a failure of a mother alone—regardless of the tragic fact that she threw both of her children off an Oregon bridge—is to only tell half of the story; a story in which both parents failed to meet their obligations to their children, and in the end, created a toxic environment that led to the downfall of a family. —Kyle S., Audible Editor

Engrossing Narrative • Complex Perspectives • Good Pacing • Thorough Research • Thought-provoking Analysis
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These "moms" who kill their children need to DIE, go to death row quickly and get out of this world. I lost my 34 yr. old son in 2015 and I am devastated and will be till I die.

JUST SAD

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This book never really delved into the reasons of why a woman would kill her children - I was hoping for a big reveal but never got one

Different than expected

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I remember the news when it happened. Very interesting to hear all the story from beginning to end and not just the outcome. I enjoy the author's perspective on that we can annoys these things I'd we can understand them.

Very interesting!

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As a lifetime Portlander, I wanted to hear this story. I can no longer read print so looked forward to the audible version. However, even after slowing it down, the words were those of a high school girl chewing gum. This was by far the worst Audible book out of the 600+ I have listened to.

Audio Inappropriate

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This book was very well researched. It’s clear the author put her heart and soul into it, over many years.

The subject matter is difficult, period.

I didn’t like the book for a few reasons. First, it excessively & unnecessarily jumps back and forth in time and across characters. Second, the author inserts too much of her opinion & value judgments throughout, which, in my mind, detracts from her storytelling.

It took me about an hour to get used to the narrator (the author). She had an uneven speaking style, often rushing through parts of the sentence. While I usually prefer the author as the narrator, in this case it detracts from her writing.

Difficult subject matter; not a fan of the writing style nor narration

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The distracting, stilted narration by the author of her own work not only made it painful to listen to but also made me wonder whether she had ever even tried reading aloud before. Who on earth allowed her to go through with this???

I wish authors would not try to narrate their books.....

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I wish Amanda would have interviewed with the Author, because I was left feeling empty. my heart ached for all 3 kids.

Sad

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It was pretty good. its a true crime novel. was disappointed there was no interview with the murderer.

brings some explanation to an incomprehensible act

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story jumps around a lot. gets confusing at times. at times wasn't really sure what was going on.

Ok...not really for me

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I am really enjoying the book and the story. It’s clear she’s done her research and I have a hard time stopping when I have to get out of my car. But the narrating is weird. She has awkward pauses that just don’t make sense and off timing when she speaks. It’s taken a while to get used to that, I find it hard to focus on the book because I’m focusing on the odd pacing and pauses. But overall a great book - and very sad story.

Great book, but don’t like the narrating.

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