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A Reluctant Bride
by Jody Hedlund
Book 1 in the The Bride Ships series.
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Living in London's poorest slum, Mercy Wilkins has little hope of a better life. When she's offered an opportunity to join a bride ship sailing to British Columbia, she agrees. After witnessing so much painful heartache and loss in the slums, the bride ship is her only prospect to escape a bleak future, not only for herself but, she hopes, someday for her sister. Wealthy and titled Joseph Colville leaves home and takes to the sea in order to escape the pain of losing his family. As ship's surgeon, he's in charge of the passengers' welfare aboard the Tynemouth, including sixty brides-to-be. He has no immediate intention of settling down, but when Mercy becomes his assistant, the two must fight against a forbidden love.
The voyage of the Tynemouth is based on the organised bride ships that carried women from Britain to Vancouver Island in the 1860s. Mercy’s work beside the ship’s surgeon exposes Victorian class divisions and the dangers of migration, while faith gives her a basis for dignity beyond either poverty or marriageability.
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