Fiction Friday: The Reluctant Bride

A Harrowing Trip Across the Ocean in the Victorian Era

I’m always game for a good underdog story…and that’s what you get with heroine Mercy Wilkins in Jody Hedlund’s latest, The Reluctant Bride. But even if that doesn’t sway you, just take a gander at the cover and that ought to seal the deal. Here’s a blurb:

Living in London's poorest slum, Mercy Wilkins harbors little hope for a better life. So when she's offered the opportunity to join a bride ship sailing to British Columbia, she agrees. The journey abroad is her only prospect to escape a bleak future--both for herself and to help her sister, who's suffering in a workhouse.

Wealthy and titled Joseph Colville leaves everything behind and takes to the sea to escape the pain of losing his family. As the 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.

With hundreds of single men congregating along the shore of Vancouver Island, eager to claim a bride from the Tynemouth, will Mercy and Joseph miss their chance at true love, or will they overcome the obstacles that threaten to keep them apart?