Leslie Howard

Inspired by the history of the British “brideships,” this captivating historical debut tells the story of one woman’s coming of age and search for independence—for readers of Pam Jenoff's The Orphan's Tale and Armando Lucas Correa’s The German Girl. Tomorrow we would dock in Victoria on the northwest coast of North America, about as far away from my home as I could imagine. Like pebbles tossed upon the beach, we would scatter, trying to make our way as best as we could. Most of us would marry; some would not. England, 1862. Charlotte is somewhat of a wallflower. Shy and bookish, she knows her duty is to marry, but with no dowry, she has little choice in the matter. She can’t continue to live off the generosity of her sister Harriet and her wealthy brother-in-law, Charles, whose political aspirations dictate that she make an advantageous match. When Harriet hosts a grand party, Charlotte is charged with winning the affections of one of Charles’s colleagues, but before the night is over, her reputation—her one thing of value—is at risk. In the days that follow, rumours begin to swirl. Soon Charles’s standing in society is threatened and all that Charlotte has held dear is jeopardized, even Harriet, and Charlotte is forced to leave everything she has ever known in England and embark on a treacherous voyage to the New World. From the rigid social circles of Victorian England to the lawless lands bursting with gold in British Columbia’s Cariboo, The Brideship Wife takes readers on a mesmerizing journey through a time of great change. Based on a forgotten chapter in history, this is a sparkling debut about the pricelessness of freedom and the courage it takes to follow your heart.

The Brideship Wife

A Novel

Celestial Wife

With her mother gone and her father out of her life, when Annie Culligan loses her Grandma Emma, she loses her entire family. With nothing to hold her in tiny Mt. Gilead, Ohio, she heads west to Nevada City, California, with her grandmother’s worn leather suitcase and fresh new teaching credentials in hand. Renting a room from a gentle widow, she ventures into a new life and finds friendship and a feeling of family that she thought she’d lost. As a first-year science teacher, Annie gives much more to her students than an education—she gives them acceptance and respect. Even as her friendship with school psychologist Tom Phillips begins to blossom, a painful, long-suppressed secret from her past threatens to devastate her newfound joy. Will Annie confront and overcome the shadows that have followed her throughout her life? The answer will depend on her willingness to forgive and to trust God with her future—a lesson that will stretch her to her very limits. Lessons is a celebration of the truth that when we are willing to let go of the hurt and resentment we so often harbor in our hearts, God is free to pour joy into the void.

Leslie Howard

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