Press

Geert Mak’s thoughtful travelogue sketches out Istanbul’s past, and provides a touching portrait of its present inhibitants… His thoughtful, beautifully written book is suffused with respect for the richness of the individual life.
Independent

These stories form the heart of a travelogue written with sympathy and acute observation.
Financial Times

This gem of a history book is slim enough to squeeze into the smallest piece of a carry-on luggage but contains a wealth of stories about Istanbul’s famous Galata  bridge. Weaving the long history of the bridge with the biographies of those who populate it today, the sensitive Mak shines a light on contemporary Turkey and its changing relationship with the rest of Europe.
Sunday Telegraph

Part history lesson, part cultural essay, The Bridge’s slender size doesn’t diminish its riches.
The Observer

Travel Books of the Year (2008)
Jeremy Seal (author): The Bridge by Geert Mak
Guardian

The beauty of this wonderful book lies in Geert Mak’s ability to breathe life into the personal stories of a whole array of every day people. ….. It is a charming, fascinating picture that Mak paints, whose subject throughout remains the human stories of the people of Galata Bridge, set before the backdrop of a shifting Istanbul.
Book of the Month, May 2008
Real Travel

Mak’s hybrid of a book, part history and part travelogue, is well illustrated and full of charm.
The Good Book Guide