WILDERNESS BRIDE
I first read this book when I was around thirteen or fourteen years old. The school I attended was an old one, so it followed that the library, and most of the books in it, were old. Some book cards showed borrowing dates in the 1950s and 60s and it always gave me a thrill to be among the shelves filled with books, looking for treasures along the way.
This book by Annabel & Edgar Johnson was one of those treasures.
The story is about a 15-year-old Mormon girl named Corey Tremaine, and how she came of age and found love among the travelling caravan of Mormons or Latter-Day Saints in the wilderness, as they made their way from Missouri to Utah.
As was probably the custom in those days among them, girls were betrothed at around that age, and then married once they reach 16. Since her mother had died when she was young and she only lived with her father, he saw fit to put her among their people, even as he himself tried to make a living somewhere else. Since the only way for him to ensure his daughter’s security was to have her betrothed to a fellow believer at the option of their leader and become part of his extended family, Corey was left with no choice but to obey.
She finds herself betrothed to a young Englishman named Ethan, whose mother, Sister Elizabeth, had become one of the wives of their caravan leader. Ethan is as out of place among the Mormons as anyone can be, with his well-bred and genteel ways. Yet Corey finds that she is as out of place among her fellow Mormons as he is, being very independent and strong-willed, and before long they realize they are kindred souls and fall in love.
As they grow closer, Corey discovers the real man behind Ethan’s seemingly quiet and unassuming ways, and finds someone who dreams of becoming a doctor, something that the Mormons frowned upon. She also finds that his character is as strong as her own, and that she shares his misgivings and doubts about the customs and ways of the Mormons, especially about marriage and family.
When their leader discovers that Ethan has been practicing the science of medicine clandestinely, he’s thrown out of the group and his betrothal to Corey is dissolved. She’s betrothed to the leader’s son, a handsome and strong youth who had wanted Corey at the onset, but she refused. Now, she was to become his second wife.
Corey is outraged and realizes that she cannot in good conscience go on living with them. When Ethan’s mother passes away, she runs away from the caravan to search for Ethan. The story ends when she finally finds a young doctor among a group travelling by train. One of the passengers had given birth and when Corey looks in on them, she finds that the young doctor is Ethan and they’re finally reunited.
It’s a simple story and the romance is very muted, since the audience of the book are children. Yet even now, despite having read and seen so many romances where the intimacy is so blatantly depicted, this little novel has never lost its charm for me. I still find myself thrilled when Corey first realizes that she loves Ethan and he tells her he feels the same. I love those little moments between them, even if it’s just of them having a conversation. The feeling I get is very similar to how I feel when I watch some KDramas, where the love is deep but not front and center, yet you feel it when the two main characters are together.
Stories for children and young adults aren’t written this way anymore, and somehow I feel sad about the lost innocence of this age. “Wilderness Bride” brings it all back to me and it will remain among my most favorite novels.