"The Mail Order Bride and her Barren Shame" by Florence Linnington

Ruth has had a rough life. In her youth, she lost the ability to have children of her own, then the factory where she was working was destroyed in a fire. After that, she decided to start her life over and accepted a marriage proposal from a man in California. She journeyed with a wagon train to meet him. Unwilling to wait any longer than necessary for her to reach him, Harrison decided to meet the wagons on their way to town. He was quite eager to reach his bride and start his family life with her and their future children.

But what Ruth found herself unable to tell him was that she would never be able to give him the children he craved. It was a secret that gnawed at her and one she knew that she needed to tell him about before it was too late, yet with each passing moment, it became more and more difficult to tell him the truth. She had already fallen in love with him and feared losing him the moment he learned that she could never give him a son.

There were many other things she could help him with, and many other ways in which she could help to make their life together better and stronger, yet knowing the one thing she could never offer him was what he desired most in the world, would he still want her or would it destroy any chance of lasting happiness between them?

I enjoyed reading this story. Ruth was a strong woman in her own right, though her fear of losing Harrison was very real and quite understandable. At this point in history, much of a woman’s perceived worth depended on her ability to give a man a family. When one does not share the impossibility of future children with the man she is about to marry, what is the chance that the man she loves will still consider her worth marrying? The two of these characters went through some rough times in their early relationship and I enjoyed watching them try to work through their problems to find their way together.

I did run across a few typos as I read, but they were generally small. And really, what book these days doesn’t seem to have at least a few typos that make it through the editing process? The story was interesting and took place in a new setting with different characters than I have run into in the previous books that I have read from this author. If this is the start of a new series by her, I look forward to seeing more of these books in the future.