A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist Buy book: $9.73
From a witty first-time novelist comes this clever romance about a British lady who is taken to the colonies against her will as a "tobacco bride." The colonial farmer who "wins" her realizes he has gotten more than he bargained for in the ensuing battle of wills.
This has never happened before. I'm reading this book and here it shows up on my book club. That is neat! I was displaced by Hurricane Rita and dying to read a good book. (I had already read the two that I had brought with me) I found this one in the Christian book isle of Wal-Mart. I love how interesting the author is and grips you so that you don't want to put the book down. I don't want to do housework or anything. Just want to read this fascinating book.
"tobacco brides"? - could that be true? - you all probably knew that but of course I had to go to google and research (again) - Between "the known world" historical novel and now this book about colonial times, who has time to do things like cook, etc.? I do know some things about history - knew about indentured servants, but "tobacco brides"?!? - (not within my realm of knowledge) -
My family may have to have an intervention and take away my computer (or the book club) - or preview my books and delete anything remotely connected to historical events - woe is me - and/or those who have to listen to me - (but you all do have the option to delete me as well) -
you save us all lots of time by reporting back your finds! Frankly though, I think I'll end up deleting this, it has a kind of romancey flavour to it that isn't my reading taste.
Check out America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines - a short review is at http://www.seniorwomen.com/ni/ni_womenofnote.html. It states:
When they married, their new husbands had to reimburse the company with 120 pounds of good leaf tobacco. The first shipment of ninety "tobacco brides" arrived in Jamestown in the spring of 1620. The youngest, Jane Dier, was fifteen or sixteen when she left England. Allice Burges, at twenty-eight, was one of the oldest and said to be skillful in the art of brewing beer — important in a place where the water was generally undrinkable. Cicely Bray was from one of the best families, of a rank that required her to be addressed as "Mistress" rather than the more plebian "goodwife." But all the brides were respectable women, mostly the offspring of middle-class tradesmen who had died, leaving them with no male protectors. All of them provided references, attesting to their honesty, sobriety, and past behavior. Anne Richards was "a woman of an honest [life] and conversation . . . and so is and ever hathe bynne esteemed," wrote one of her parish elders.
Sandy, I did some hunting down as well. What you said about the brides coming over voluntarily in 1620 is true. But after that original shipment of 100 volunteers, no other women would come.
That's when the Crown started sending over their female felons. Walter Hart Blumenthal wrote a book about it called *Brides from Bridewell: Female Felons Sent to Colonial America* (Bridewell being the name of the prison).
According to the website of the author of *Bride Most Begrudging* she found record of an actual incident of a woman of rank being kidnapped. She found it in a volume covering 1644 Virginia at a geneology library.
Sandy, thanks for the more info - don't think I will be reading past this week's reads of this book - think we all know exactly where it is going to end up - but treasures of knowledge can be found in the most mundane places, can they not? -
- Doris -
Okay, maybe it is that my third son married a beautiful young lady last May or my second son is engaged to marry another fabulous woman next February or maybe it is that my wife and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage in three weeks....
but this title and the first two episodes have me intrigued. Why should there be such an awful handling of a woman in any century? And what makes the captain think she is 'worth' more tobacco than the others?
Will she find a tender accomplice in the New World or will she be taken advantage of in caulous ways? She has now lost her only family, her uncle to the ship passage.
Does God really watch over every one of his children?
I just loved this book. It has kept me on my toes this week just not knowing what was going to happen next. I think that this is one that i am going to have to go and check out.
