A Reluctant Bride cover art

A Reluctant Bride

Bride Ships, Book 1

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Reluctant Bride

By: Jody Hedlund
Narrated by: Esther Wane
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.07

Buy Now for £15.07

About this listen

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 60 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 on the shore eager to claim a bride from the Tynemouth, will Mercy and Joseph lose their chance at true love, or will they be able to overcome the obstacles that threaten to keep them apart?

©2019 Jody Hedlund (P)2019 Tantor Christian Fiction Clean & Wholesome Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant
A very good story. Wonderfully narrated. I would recommend it to everyone. I will pass it on to my friend

I listened to it for hours, most enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Reluctant Bride has great depth in character and their relationships. The writer is also unafraid to show the devastation of poverty - which most historial romance authors seem to ignore. A running theme is class prejudice and how Godly love can overcome that.

Perfect love is unbiased

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Easy going read, just a shame that yet again an American author has not got the UK English quite right: suspenders are what ladies wear to hold their stockings up, men wear BRACES to hold their trousers up. A vest is an undergarment - we would call the item of clothing a WAISTCOAT.

Enjoyable read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The excellent portrayal of slum life, poverty, social class and of the power of assumptions and hope.

Brilliant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely lovely story. So romantic without being too graphic. Likeable characters with emotional depth. Couldn't stop listening.

Wonderful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.