Bargain Bride

By Evelyn Sibley Lampman

Book Overview

To Ginny, almost anything would be better than living with the miserly, good-for-nothing, distant cousins who had claimed her and all she possessed when her parents had died of fever during the wagon-train journey to Oregon Territory.

At the age of ten they had married her off-for a very good price-to a much older farmer, because girls were in great demand since married men could take title to twice the amount of land the government allowed a bachelor. On her fifteenth birthday, kindly Mr. Mayhew came to claim his bride. Unfortunately, on that same day he had a stroke and Ginny, the young Widow Mayhew, was left in possession of his well-built house and flourishing farm.

This sometimes amusing and often touching story, in which Ginny learns to fend off a stream of suitors who have their eyes only on her rich farmland, gives a vivid sense of life as it was during a brief period in our history when marriage was often considered a practical necessity instead of an affair of the heart.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1948959712
• ISBN13: 9781948959711
• Release Date: April 2022
• Publisher: Purple House Press
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Honest and intersesting.

An honest story that showed how women were treated as property but sweet in her resulting story. And I think her name was spelled correctly. Ginny can be a nickname for Virginia. another Ginny

Finally, found it!

Yes! I am so glad to see this book available at last. Bargain Bride is the story of Ginny (possibly spelled wrong). Only a teenager, she is married off to an elderly farmer in the Oregon Territory, a bargain struck by relatives who feel burdoned by her care. Her new husband only marries her in order to gain access to more land through the Homestead Act, but Ginny scarcely has time to worry about the marriage because, within a week, her husband dies. Ginny immediately inherits all the land and is left a wealthy widow living alone in a frontier community. She is soon considered the catch of the county, but will Ginny marry for security and companionship before noticing the feelings of real love hidden right under her nose?

great Oregon history!

As a child, I have to confess I enjoyed Lampman's fantasy novels more, but as an adult, I am only beginning to respect her talent for presenting history in a wonderful, entertaining way. She is especially advanced in her character treatment of Native Americans. ALL of her books are worth looking up in the libraries (as might be expected, libraries in Portland have more than usual). I don't understand why she is out of print, her books are wonderful for classroom reading. Any teachers, I highly recommend her books.