Growing up as a bookworm in the southernmost borough of New York City, Jaclyn craves the essentials: her favorite paperback series, 19th century novels, and adventure. But what’s a girl to do when adventure lies beyond the boundaries of the bridge? Forbidden apple, will she take a bite?

Not if her mom has anything to do with it. Under the watchful eye of her Italian American family, the heroine-in-training explores life through the lens of patriarchal values. Don’t Go Over the Bridge is a collection of poetry and prose that create a narrative experience of becoming the authentic self. With originality in both structure and style, each chapter is presented with fresh insight and humor of what it means to come of age in a system that pushes tradition before autonomy.

Turn the pages to travel back to a time before social media, in a world with basic cable and dial-up internet. Walk the halls of an all-girls Catholic high school, hang with a couple of English professors, attend a neighborhood party, and much more, as the author navigates the turbulent seas from young adulthood to motherhood and beyond.