Bargain Bride

by Evelyn Sibley Lampman

Unabridged edition newly republished by Purple House Press.

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 died of a stroke and Ginny, the young Widow Mayhew, was left in possession of his well-built house and flourishing farm.

This 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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Romance, Childrens, Juvenile, Historical Romance

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

(1907-1980) Mrs. Lampman grew up in Dallas, Oregon, granddaughter of pioneers in that region. She graduated from Oregon State and worked for many years in radio. Her first book was published in 1948, and she was most recognized for sensitive books about racial minorities, especially Native Americans.

Reviews

[Anne Osterlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ginny has been married since she was ten. Her parents died on the Oregon Trail and her aunt and uncle sold her; however, Ginny still lives with them. She’s only seen her husband a handful of times in the five years since that marriage. When she turns fifteen, though, he arrives, brings her to his homestead. And promptly . . . dies.

Leaving Ginny (who has absolutely no desire to return to her family) all alone. Except for Nona--the Indian woman hiding out in Ginny’s cabin. And Jeth, the seventeen-year-old “boy” who agrees to work Ginny’s land for practice. And a whole passel of suitors eager to court the land-rich widow—all of whom Ginny, frankly, could do without.

Bargain Bride is one of my all-time favorite books! The characters--every last one of them--leap off the page. From Ginny’s harridan aunt to the stodgy neighbor to Ginny herself--who has spunk and guts and, despite being the catch of the county, is actually starved for love. Highly recommended! Especially for fans of classic heroines like Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Jo March.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

2019 Review
Between this book and Howl's Moving Castle, I think I need to go back and re-read all my old favorites. You see, I've been grossly deceived. In my memory the romance plays out in the last chapter and the rest of the book is about pioneer life or something.
Y'all, THE ENTIRE BOOK CENTERS ON THE ROMANCE.
I don't know how I missed it in my earlier readings. It quite worries me that I could remain so oblivious. But you know, when you re-read a book so many times you go in with preconceived notions...
Anyway, I still loved it. Even more, actually, now that I see how it all ties together. Perhaps a bit politically incorrect for modern standards (I wonder if that is why the library got rid of it?) but the overall message remains strong. The romance is adorable. The main character flawed but lovable. And that preacher guy a lot more annoying than I remembered.
Perhaps not quite so effusively recommended for all age groups as my earlier review would say, but certainly middle school on up.

Originally Review
Again, how could I have forgotten this book? It has been a favorite of mine since I first picked it up, over five years ago. It is great historical fiction and a wonderful story. Perfect for every age and makes a great read-aloud!!

[Ginnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute. Good plot. Good ending. Well developed characters.
And she is named after me, can it get much better?

Recommended to my family, etc. They liked it a lot.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - 3.5 stars

A sweet, short tale of the "how the West was settled" in the vein of Little House on the Prairie,/i>, except centered in Oregon. Due to the land claim regulations which allowed a married man some 300 more acres, many young girls were married off as early as 10. They remained with their families until they turned 15 or so, and then went to their husbands, but this neat run-around the legal system has resulted in 14 year-old Ginny having been married for nearly five years and after her birthday she will have to go live with her husband, Mr. Mayhew.

A bit nervous, understandably, but she is more than ready to leave behind her horrible cousins who deigned to take her in when her beloved parents took ill and died on the trail as they journeyed here from Carolina. (They also sold her to Mr. Mayhew in exchange for money to set up their homestead, but that really worked out best for Ginny in the end.) Her life has been joyless and tiresome under her cruel aunt, uxorious uncle and beastly cousin.

However, on the very day that she goes to live with Mr. Mayhew, he has a heart attack and dies. Suddenly, Ginny is a very wealthy widow. Her cousins try to take advantage of her and move into her home and wrest control of her farm. At gun point, Ginny forces them to leave and to never return.

Isolated from the friendly townspeople due to the winter snows, Ginny has no company save that of an Indian woman, and the occasional visit from 17 year-old Jeth who braves the road to bring her Christmas gifts and news from town.

Ginny has a crush on the young pastor in town, Gilbert, but finds her good opinion of him tarnished based on how he treats her Indian companion and ends up with Jeth :)

I liked how the authoress never tried to pretend that everyone loved the Indians (look at Auntie's prejudice), but she also showed that there were many who treated them fairly and kindly, even if with misguided notions of how they should live, like Ginny and Jeth.

Nothing surprising here, but a nice addition to frontier and pioneer literature, especially for younger middle grade readers.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd Read: Yes. I discovered this book 2 months ago and I have already read it twice... That tells you how much it got stuck in my system.

1st Read:

Because married men could claim double the amount of Oregon land, Ginny's aunt and uncle sold her as a bride when she was 11. Now she's 15 and he's coming to take her away from her awful family to his claim and the home that he's built for her.

Oh. My. Goodness. What a story! After the first 8 horrific pages I wasn't sure if I was going to be reading one of the scariest and saddest stories ever or if I was going to see any sort of happy ending. I mean, it could have gone all Love Comes Softly on us... or been a bit more of a murder mystery. The thing is I didn't care as long as I could finish it and see if Ginny was okay. I had to know what was going to happen.

Uncomfortable fact #1: I did a bit of internet searching and found that the passage of an act in 1850 did happen and that there were many marriages that were rumored to have been entered into for that reason.

Uncomfortable fact #2: there are some racist characters in the book. The book deals with attitudes regarding the Native Americans and there are plenty of negative examples. Even Ginny, who is one of the more welcoming and non-biased characters, struggles at reconciling her beliefs regarding marriage with the beliefs of Nona. It's a lot to talk and think about (especially these days when disagreement about beliefs seems to take center stage). But I feel like Lampman is aware of those issues and creates them so that those conversations can happen.

But it also gives you a lot to think about regarding child brides, well-intentioned(maybe?) laws, etc. And Lampman? She's got writing skills. And that's why I think it's a good tool. Writers like Lampman make it easy to find yourself in a character and identify potential flaws in your thinking.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book in a different way than Three Knocks on the Wall. Ginny is a strong vibrant character and it was enjoyable to see her come into her own. Mr. Mayhew was well developed and I really liked him and how he treated Ginny. This book is strong on negative feelings towards Native Americans by the white townspeople. Ginny and Jeth hint at different attitudes for the future. It was believable to watch Ginny's changing feelings about the different men vying for the wealthy widow and though the end seemed to come too soon it was sweet and happy. The customs and way of talking took getting used to but I loved the Oregon setting.

Notes: Due to the arranged marriage of Ginny at age 10 (she's 15 during the story), the character of Nona who was "married" to a white man and bore his child before he set her aside to marry a white woman in the church, and romantic storyline I'd reserve this till later high school age for my daughter.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up from the Swarthmore town library, which has a young adult section much like the library where I grew up. I never read this book before, but it's exactly the sort of thing I would have read when I was going to that library as a kid, so this was a fun walk down memory lane for me. A quick, fun read.

[Rodger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book refers to a provision in The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. The law gave only white men over 18 the right to claim land in the Oregon Territory. However, a married man could claim twice as much land as a single man. As a result, it was a bargain to marry a bride. Since most settlers were unmarried men, they even looked to marry girls who were not yet grown up, essentially betrothing them.

The main character, Ginny is in that scenario, essentially betrothed to a stranger, but she's actually married. Having lost her parents on the Oregon Trail and living with horrible, selfish cousins, who essentially sold her for money by having her get married to a stranger while too young to understand it. She still lives with her cousins until age 15 when her husband comes for her. However, rather than living with this stranger husband, who happened to be a great man, she gets to be mostly independent at age 15 and run a homestead.

The premise of this book reminded me of the book: "A Finger in Every Pie", by Victoria Case, which also takes place in the 1840s and 1850s in the Oregon Territory. One of its chapters had a remarkably similar plot: "Courtship of Kathleen" - which was right when the new law took effect, restricting land single men could claim, creating demand for men to marry to have twice the land. So, there was big competition to win the favor of one particular woman who was single. It compared the traits of strength against wit in a competition between three men to win Kathleen. While the premise was a similar and I really liked both books, I actually liked Bargain Bride better.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a reread from my childhood, and all I really remembered from this book was that she lived with a horrible relative who didn't want to give up the paisley shawl. I was curious and re-read...

And woof. Oh boy. Tales of the frontier. It's probably more accurate than I'd like to think. Ginny is sold/married off as a child-bride, so her selfish...Uncle? Cousin? can get the money needed to set up his claim, and the husband can claim twice as much land since he's married. She then stays with the horrible relatives until she reaches the "appropriate" age of fifteen...which isn't so terrible in the time period, except her husband is at least twice, maybe three times her age. He's not so bad--he's kind, and keeps his promises (even ones he made five years ago, to a child), and looks like he'll stand up for her against her horrible relatives. Fortunately, he has a very convenient stroke the same night she goes home with him so we're spared the trauma of a wedding night. Ginny is now a widow!

The rest of the book is Ginny learning to fend for herself, with the help of the neighbor's cast-off native wife (one thing I'll say, the author doesn't flinch from showing racism and the contemporary attitudes, and how wrong they were) and a local townswoman. It's really sad to read- reading through Ginny's perspective, its so easy to see that she's still a child, despite her hard life. Even the happy ending, which was probably as happy as she was gonna get, is a little bitter-sweet. I don't think I'd mind my children reading this, but it was a weird experience to revisit!

[Naomi McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this... I'm not exactly sure how to rate it. I enjoyed the story quite a lot, and found the bits of Oregon history fascinating. Ginny reminds me of Cinderella, with her horrible relations. I like her courage and honesty with herself.
Aunt Elizabeth was priceless--a pioneer Rachel Lynde, if ever there was one. And I loved Jeth. Pastor Gilbert made me chuckle, Nona was interesting and exasperating, (especially her lofty treatment of Ginny and then finally allowing her a "friend" even though Ginny had done ever so much for her. Some people just think that much of themselves I guess though. Must be why she was exasperating; she's too humanly human.) In fact, I got annoyed at a lot of folks who tried to run ramshod over Ginny, even over things that weren't any of their business or right and they simply refused to admit they were wrong! But since they "fixed" it in a round about manner, it was then ok. Jeth and his aunt were the only true blue friends.
Other than that I really liked the tale of sticking it out in a claim in Oregon and the book just pulled me in.

[Cassie Hanudel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gained much insight into the challenges facing young girls in the young Oregon territory as well as the fear and racism towards Native American tribes. I was drawn in by the story of one such young girl who had been married off quite young to a settler who wanted a larger claim. When she is suddenly left a widow she learns to navigate a homestead on her own, and with the help of an Indian woman who was abandoned by her husband (along with her child) when he chooses to marry a white woman instead.

[Bethany (CozyLittleBookNook) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars Ok so I read this because I people say that it was like ‘The Witch Of Blackbird Pond’ (and I love that book so much) and I can see how people would say that, it had the same feel about it, and i really liked this book. ( not mere as much as the witch of blackbird pond) but it was enjoyable. The only thing that bugged me was we got more details about the stinking funeral in the very beginning then we did about the romance, or anything else for that matter, the first 65 pages are about that alone, so the pacing is off in the very beginning, but it was still fun.

[Aubrey Ray]

Short historical fiction, set in Oregon in days of early settlers. Enjoyable read, gave a realistic picture of the time without being unnecessarily heavy, definitely saving for the girls when they get older :) Other reviewers compared it to the Witch of Blackbird Pond, which was my favorite book growing up. I wouldn’t have thought to compare them, some thematic similarities perhaps but not that similar. But I’m sure I would have loved this one just as much, had I read it as a young teen.

[Rosie Gearhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am teaching an ELL teenager to read, and she is loving this book! Probably not the best book choice for her because of the bad grammar in the dialogue throughout, but it’s got her begging to read every day!

I probably would give it more stars if I were a teenager, but I’ve read too many great books to be super impressed by this one.

CC: prejudice against Indians throughout the book, but the main character does not share this view

[Tashina Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Because it looked short and maybe written for teens, I expected it to be mediocre, but it was surprisingly good with a believable plot. It was a little simplistic, in that you know who the good and bad people are, but the writing is excellent and there wasn't a chapter I didn't enjoy. Would read again.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disturbing, but also very representational of the views and lifestyles of the time period.

[Heather Bork]

I really enjoyed this book. Fast read. The ending however was fairly abrupt.

[Beth Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a fun, uncomplicated story with interesting characters. The premise of the story took an unexpected turn early on, and made for an easy, entertaining read.

[Jasmine Weich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sweet story

[Michelle Fournier]

I did not really care for this one.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and engaging. This book is a quick read, but I still felt like I really knew the characters. It’s set during an interesting time in history, in Oregon territory during the 1800s, when married men could claim twice as much land, but women were scarce—so there were marriages arranged with girls even as young as ten years old. The girls stayed at home until the age of fifteen, but then went to live with their husbands. Our main character is involved in just such an arrangement, but right after her husband comes to get her, he dies of a heart attack. Now she is a widow and has inherited a large, successful farm. What will she do now?

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't recommend this book. Although it deals with some interesting problems relevant to the period, it wasn't a very good book.

[Romina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't remember if I had read it or not when I was a kid, but as soon as I started reading, I had flashes of events that we're going to happen.

I read it in a couple of hours because the story was quite compelling; the characters were well developed and Ginny did seem to think like a teenager, especially when she was in love with the pastor.
I really disliked her cousins, especially Cousin Mattie, and I was so glad when she finally got rid of them!
The only thing I didn't like so much was her relationship (or lack of) with her love interest... they should have had some more moments to themselves, except perhaps that wouldn't have been very realistic for the times.

Anyhow, as an adult, I enjoy it, but I'm sure I would have loved it as a teenager, so the rating is based on that!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been looking for this book for over a year. I could not remember the title. I did remember the cover and the story and I knew it was published prior to 1985. The library I had borrowed it from recently went online with their catalog online. It took me a couple hours searching but I finally found it. Now all I have to do is locate a copy and I will read it again.
Update: I got the book through interlibrary loan. It was just as good to read this time. I wish it had been a longer story, it was so sweet. I will try to find more books by this author.

[Elyza · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book! Not life changing no, but enjoyable. How exciting and terrifying it would be to be in Ginny's, the main charaters, shoes! I had a hard time getting through the chapters with her cousin Mattie in them. She was so awful I wanted to smack her around! I was sad that her husband Stephen died before they even got to know eachother. He seemed like a nice man. I laughed and smiled throughout the whole book. :)

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a special book because it takes place in my town of Dallas, Oregon!

It was fun to see Dallas in its early years. Lampman is a good storyteller.

This story is sweet romance and a great read that has a lot to teach about pioneer times in Oregon.

Wonderful strong heroine. Good for girls aged 10-14.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story about a teenaged girl who is forced into a business marriage on the Oregon frontier. Her parents died on the Oregon Trail, and her life with distant cousins hasn't been happy. Will it be any better with her middle-aged husband?

[Madelyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about a young woman coming of age during prairie times Oregon. Learning to live with and except other people and doing a bit of growing up along the way. A simple, but sweet story good for all ages.

[Inhabiting Books]

This is a book that I picked up from a library sale because I vaguely remembered reading it when I was young, but couldn't remember if I liked it. It was a good read, but not stand-out. Twelve-year-old me would probably have liked it more.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat book! I loved reading about the day to day life of a settler in the 1800s. Ginny has a lot of growth as a character, and the author ties in the common perspective/prejudice of settlers toward Native Americans.