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The Bride's Farewell
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A tender and magical tale from an award-winning, international bestselling novelist
Pell Ridley, daughter of a good-for-nothing preacher in mid-nineteenth century England, has watched her mother crushed by the burden of too many children and too little money. Unwilling to repeat her fate, Pell runs away on her wedding day taking only her beautiful, white horse. But, as she journeys through a strange world of gypsies in search of a new life, Pell finds that her ties to home refuse to release her.
Like the works of Philip Pullman and Sue Monk Kidd, The Bride's Farewell will resonate with readers of all ages as it grapples with timeless questions of how to live, how to love, and how to be true to one's self.
A tender and magical tale from an award-winning, international bestselling novelist
Pell Ridley, daughter of a good-for-nothing preacher in mid-nineteenth century England, has watched her mother crushed by the burden of too many children and too little money. Unwilling to repeat her fate, Pell runs away on her wedding day taking only her beautiful, white horse. But, as she journeys through a strange world of gypsies in search of a new life, Pell finds that her ties to home refuse to release her.
Like the works of Philip Pullman and Sue Monk Kidd, The Bride's Farewell will resonate with readers of all ages as it grapples with timeless questions of how to live, how to love, and how to be true to one's self.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 6, 2009
33 people are currently reading
1127 people want to read
About the author
Meg Rosoff
46 books1,166 followersMeg Rosoff was born in Boston and had three or four careers in publishing and advertising before she moved to London in 1989, where she lives now with her husband and daughter. Formerly a Young Adult author, Meg has earned numerous prizes including the highest American and British honors for YA fiction: the Michael L. Printz Award and the Carnegie Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 367 reviews
March 2, 2011
So disappointed. I loved Rosoff's 'How I Live Now' and I had high expectations of this book... but no.
It was painfully boring, and thankfully short as well because I couldn't wait for it to be over. I think it was meant to be deep and moving but I felt no connection with the protagonist and all the endless talk about horses and farming nearly sent me to sleep.
I can't believe the difference between the gripping and rather disturbing 'How I Live Now' and this load of pointless waffle. It didn't work as an important message for growing up and womanhood, it didn't work as a romance, it just didn't work full stop.
After my give-or-take attitudes to 'Just In Case' and 'What I Was', I really thought the author might regain some of the magic of her first novel in this book; but I'm now starting to believe that Meg Rosoff exhausted her genius with her first release.
It's really quite disheartening.
It was painfully boring, and thankfully short as well because I couldn't wait for it to be over. I think it was meant to be deep and moving but I felt no connection with the protagonist and all the endless talk about horses and farming nearly sent me to sleep.
I can't believe the difference between the gripping and rather disturbing 'How I Live Now' and this load of pointless waffle. It didn't work as an important message for growing up and womanhood, it didn't work as a romance, it just didn't work full stop.
After my give-or-take attitudes to 'Just In Case' and 'What I Was', I really thought the author might regain some of the magic of her first novel in this book; but I'm now starting to believe that Meg Rosoff exhausted her genius with her first release.
It's really quite disheartening.
May 26, 2011
I love Meg Rosoff’s work. “How I Live Now” and “Just In Case” were refreshing and vibrant, with a fascinating layer of unease throughout the simple but highly effective prose. Both books received mass acclaim, both from teens and adults, and many literary awards, such as the Carnegie Medal and Printz Award. I highly recommend her first two books to anyone in search of a book that proves YA can be just as moving, surprising and intriguing as anything intended for adults.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing for “The Bride’s Farewell.”
As always, Rosoff’s prose is wonderful, managing to be deceptively simple but striking and void of overt sentimentality. It’s certainly the strongest thing about this short book but great prose isn’t enough to make a story worthwhile. After a strong start and the initial establishment of a strong, independent heroine, the story quickly loses momentum and dissolves into many paragraphs of exposition and summaries more suited to a “Previously on...” introduction to a TV series than a novella. There is no real strong narrative to the novella; instead, we are left with chapter after chapter describing each unconnected thing Pell does, occasionally meandering off for a little exposition on a barely developed character of no real importance. I can’t blame the short length of the story for this since many wonderful novellas and short stories have been written before this that manage to get in ten times more characterisation and plot. Pell’s introduction started off so strong but quickly fell apart as it felt like Rosoff became bored with her own story and characters. So little time is spent allowing Pell to grow – and the few decisions she does make later on seem at direct odds with her early characterisation - and by the end of the book I felt apathetic towards her fate. I had similar feelings, or lack thereof, towards the supporting cast, who are so thinly drawn they’re transparent. Many of these characters also veered wildly into caricature territory. Almost every man in the story is a philandering drunk who does not care for his numerous children, while anyone who openly talks of faith and God is usually a ranting fool with no regard for kindness or basic human decency. Not only were such descriptions borderline offensive, they were also plain lazy. When the reader is asked to sympathise with one particular case – a man who abandoned his wife and child and only comes back to see his son to teach him to ‘be a man’ and hunt – because he becomes the designated love interest, it’s hard to stomach.
My biggest problem with the book came with the story. As I said before, there really is no strong narrative structure to “The Bride’s Farewell” as Pell meanders from one place to another, but almost everything that happens in this story is misery porn. If something’s going to go wrong then chances are it will. Pell is mistreated, mocked, left to starve, robbed, cheated, the whole shebang. Almost every woman that Pell encounters, no matter how long they appear for, immediately mistrusts her or believes her to be out to steal their men with her beauty, another lazy character element that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I am fine with unflinching unsentimentality, many writers have made masterpieces from such plot choices, but here it feels lifeless and completely pointless. Pell doesn’t grow as a character because of these events, she doesn’t become a stronger person (actually, I think she becomes even more downtrodden and submissive than before), so to pack this short book with such defeated angst for no reason feels like bad storytelling. It’s such a disappointment because I know Rosoff is capable of brilliance.
Someone asked me if it was worth reading a bad book if it had one truly wonderful redeeming feature, in this case the prose. Even though I think Rosoff is a wonderful writer and her prose is always strong, in the case of “The Bride’s Farewell”, it’s just not worth it. Great prose cannot singlehandedly support lazy characterisation, clumsy plotting and a story that seems more concerned with making its characters miserable than allowing them to truly grow. I cannot recommend Rosoff’s other books highly enough so I recommend you pick those wonderful pieces of YA up to read instead of this one, which I hope is merely a minor speed bump in her career.
2/5.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing for “The Bride’s Farewell.”
As always, Rosoff’s prose is wonderful, managing to be deceptively simple but striking and void of overt sentimentality. It’s certainly the strongest thing about this short book but great prose isn’t enough to make a story worthwhile. After a strong start and the initial establishment of a strong, independent heroine, the story quickly loses momentum and dissolves into many paragraphs of exposition and summaries more suited to a “Previously on...” introduction to a TV series than a novella. There is no real strong narrative to the novella; instead, we are left with chapter after chapter describing each unconnected thing Pell does, occasionally meandering off for a little exposition on a barely developed character of no real importance. I can’t blame the short length of the story for this since many wonderful novellas and short stories have been written before this that manage to get in ten times more characterisation and plot. Pell’s introduction started off so strong but quickly fell apart as it felt like Rosoff became bored with her own story and characters. So little time is spent allowing Pell to grow – and the few decisions she does make later on seem at direct odds with her early characterisation - and by the end of the book I felt apathetic towards her fate. I had similar feelings, or lack thereof, towards the supporting cast, who are so thinly drawn they’re transparent. Many of these characters also veered wildly into caricature territory. Almost every man in the story is a philandering drunk who does not care for his numerous children, while anyone who openly talks of faith and God is usually a ranting fool with no regard for kindness or basic human decency. Not only were such descriptions borderline offensive, they were also plain lazy. When the reader is asked to sympathise with one particular case – a man who abandoned his wife and child and only comes back to see his son to teach him to ‘be a man’ and hunt – because he becomes the designated love interest, it’s hard to stomach.
My biggest problem with the book came with the story. As I said before, there really is no strong narrative structure to “The Bride’s Farewell” as Pell meanders from one place to another, but almost everything that happens in this story is misery porn. If something’s going to go wrong then chances are it will. Pell is mistreated, mocked, left to starve, robbed, cheated, the whole shebang. Almost every woman that Pell encounters, no matter how long they appear for, immediately mistrusts her or believes her to be out to steal their men with her beauty, another lazy character element that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I am fine with unflinching unsentimentality, many writers have made masterpieces from such plot choices, but here it feels lifeless and completely pointless. Pell doesn’t grow as a character because of these events, she doesn’t become a stronger person (actually, I think she becomes even more downtrodden and submissive than before), so to pack this short book with such defeated angst for no reason feels like bad storytelling. It’s such a disappointment because I know Rosoff is capable of brilliance.
Someone asked me if it was worth reading a bad book if it had one truly wonderful redeeming feature, in this case the prose. Even though I think Rosoff is a wonderful writer and her prose is always strong, in the case of “The Bride’s Farewell”, it’s just not worth it. Great prose cannot singlehandedly support lazy characterisation, clumsy plotting and a story that seems more concerned with making its characters miserable than allowing them to truly grow. I cannot recommend Rosoff’s other books highly enough so I recommend you pick those wonderful pieces of YA up to read instead of this one, which I hope is merely a minor speed bump in her career.
2/5.
April 25, 2011
I think both the picture on the cover and the cover blurbs do this rather remarkable and extremely UN-romantic novel a disservice. They make it sound like a rollicking, romantic romp, and those who come to it with those expectations will be sorely disappointed. I admit to beginning it with those pre-conceptions and almost bouncing off it, but because it was Meg Rosoff who is always good and because the writing is spare and compelling I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. The Bride's Farewell tells the story of Pell Ridley, who runs away from home on the eve of her wedding, because she can't face the life she sees in front of her, a life like her mother's, full of children and drudgery. She is good with horses, and sensible and resourceful, but already knows how difficult it is for a pretty young woman without a husband or money to make her way in the world unmolested. She heads to Scarborough Fair to try to make her fortune. All this sounds like a ballad, or a fairy tale, and I think Rosoff knows perfectly well that's what her readers will be expecting. But it's as if she's saying, "um... no. Think life is a fairy tale? It isn't. Here's what it was _really_ like for a pretty young woman from a bad family in the mid-1850s." If this were your conventional romantic romp, Pell would have Adventures and meet some nice handsome young man whom she would spar with for several chapters and then grow to love, as he would learn to accept her independence and attitude, and they'd end up riding into the sunset together. Everything lost would be found again, good would triumph and all would live happily ever after. That is not what happens here. Or not in the ways that you might expect, if at all. It's about real choices. The unbreakable loyalties one has and the breakable ones and how to learn the difference. When to take what is offered and when to move on. How to live with the choices you have made. When someone or something might be better off without you. That matters of the heart are considerably more complex than you might have wanted to believe, or much simpler, perhaps. All this. It's a fine and thought-provoking book, if a little bleak.
August 30, 2010
I loved this and lapped it up in a night, like ice cream. Set in the middle of the 19th century in some wild back of beyond British setting right out of Hardy, it tells a fairy like tale of Pell, a 17 year old bride to be who flees a future that she knows will confine her like a coffin: marriage and "a house full of children." As the eldest daughter of 8 children born to a haggard mother and an abusive "preacher" father, Pell wants nothing to do with such a life, though Birdie, her intended, has been her best friend since childhood, and his family's trade, smithing, has given her a facility with horses that is nearly mystical. So, to save herself, Pell takes off in the night, with her pony, Jack, and her youngest brother, a mute, who will not allow himself to be left behind. They point themselves toward the Salisbury Fair, a renowned horsetrading event, where Pell is sure she'll find work. The story unwinds from here, with adventure and discoveries worthy of Dickens, but told much more economically, and with a healthy dose of feminism.
April 21, 2011
First off, let me say that I am an earnest fan of Rosoff's previous How I Live Now and What I Was. These two works display her ability to create rich characters worth caring about, around whom the story falls in place as a secondary element but a compelling one. I enjoy the voices of the narrators she creates and the voices they have, which are strong, sincere, and witty. So, yes, comparison with these previous works was inevitable. But I would have found The Bride's Farewell lacking without these books with which to compare. With them, I also found it disappointing.
The characterisation is bland and hardly touched upon. Perhaps it's because Rosoff is so much duller in the third person, but I found it more to be 'Pell did this, and then Pell did that' instead of the interesting internal narratives, punctuated with good dialogue, that her previous works hook you in with. The plot wasn't exactly fantastic... frankly, that was boring, and I could have tolerated that if Pell was worth caring about. But none of the characters were drawn out, and I found myself ultimately apathetic about their fates. Scenes that should have been touching fell short because the characters involved were so uninteresting.
The annoying thing was that it could have been so much more interesting, and glimmers of potential made it all the more frustrating. The romance the cover synopsis dangles in front of you is, again, boring, because it was so unexplored. Emotionally it could have been something very worth looking at (and I know Meg Rosoff is good at making you like her love interests, even if they are unconventional and often inaccessible because of their remoteness), but it wasn't, because I Did Not Care. I cared more about the dog than Pell and her lover!
To sum it up, wasted potential. The voice was lacking Rosoff's usual charm and earnestness, the romance was dreary and minor, and with such undeveloped characters, the plot was just intolerably boring. It lacked the oomph (and the provocativeness, though I can live without the shock value) of What I Was and How I Live Now, and it was only the author's name on the cover that made me pursue it to the end, vainly hoping for a sucker punch that would have made it worthwhile.
The characterisation is bland and hardly touched upon. Perhaps it's because Rosoff is so much duller in the third person, but I found it more to be 'Pell did this, and then Pell did that' instead of the interesting internal narratives, punctuated with good dialogue, that her previous works hook you in with. The plot wasn't exactly fantastic... frankly, that was boring, and I could have tolerated that if Pell was worth caring about. But none of the characters were drawn out, and I found myself ultimately apathetic about their fates. Scenes that should have been touching fell short because the characters involved were so uninteresting.
The annoying thing was that it could have been so much more interesting, and glimmers of potential made it all the more frustrating. The romance the cover synopsis dangles in front of you is, again, boring, because it was so unexplored. Emotionally it could have been something very worth looking at (and I know Meg Rosoff is good at making you like her love interests, even if they are unconventional and often inaccessible because of their remoteness), but it wasn't, because I Did Not Care. I cared more about the dog than Pell and her lover!
To sum it up, wasted potential. The voice was lacking Rosoff's usual charm and earnestness, the romance was dreary and minor, and with such undeveloped characters, the plot was just intolerably boring. It lacked the oomph (and the provocativeness, though I can live without the shock value) of What I Was and How I Live Now, and it was only the author's name on the cover that made me pursue it to the end, vainly hoping for a sucker punch that would have made it worthwhile.
June 13, 2011
I have an unfinished copy of How I Live Now (bookmarked halfway through when I stopped about a year ago and never bothered to pick back up) sitting on my shelf, so I surprised myself when I picked up The Bride’s Farewell.
It looks like an easy read~ short and sweet, hinting at the kind of romance that you imagine must be epic with such a classic tale.
It is not easy, or short, or sweet.
It’s more like~
heartbreaking
tragic
thoughtful
honest
lovely with quiet moments of nostalgia, descriptions that will swirl you up and into Pell’s world of scars and ache and searching, and not only a romance or a tale of families, but an exploration of human’s souls and what, after all is said and done, binds us all to one another.
I felt a yearning for Pell’s world because the vivid detail of Salisbury, which you can imagine at the time period, crammed with horses and people and scents. I adored her brothers and sisters~ the quietest of the pack was just as endearing to me as the brashest. Those reminiscences quite simply bled emotion into the story, with that soft yet gradual way as if it didn’t mean to cause such heartache, but just tell the story. Not loud. Not edgy. Not bold or heroic, no shocking impact, just woven in a way that spoke directly to the heart~ but truthfully.
I thought that I would be torn between hating/loving Pell for abandoning her wedding and her family in the process, but Pell’s search for freedom was heartwarming and occasionally made me a bit teary. Pell’s voice had the same effect. When she talked of marrying Birdie, she said:
I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just one more year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagerness of my own life. I will love him and care for him, will never tell him to get his own tea, or sweep the ashes from the hearth or give birth to his own twelfth child himself.
Her determination astounded me, and her honesty often floored me. She wasn’t delusional or wistful~ just brave and strong and even when she was black and blue, with no where to live, she wasn’t someone to pity. Pell is one of my favorite heroines.
Bean was absolutely sweet and is dear to me even after I’ve put the book down, and he will sneak into the heart of everyone who opens this book. (Bean is Pell’s little brother :)
There is a whole cast of gypsies whom I could revisit every day of my life. This book is going to allow you to taste the cold winds of Nomansland and the warmth of the fire after a long journey. And sometimes it will even make you smile a little, after such heartbreak.
It feels like an insult to call this book a romance. It’s a self-discovery, except so much more than even that. It’s finding love and hope and truth, while the whole world is colliding around you. It has a depth and voice to it which everyone will connect~ it may be historical but it will shift your perspective on everything around you anyway.
It helps you to picture the women the left their marriages when it was considered unacceptable and socially wrong, to go off in search of their own future, and their own fortune, and not just a romance, but a love and appreciation of the world despite its hardships and heartbreaks.
And the horses and dogs that ramble through these pages will charm you. Here’s one of my favorite passages about Jack (her part-Arabian horse) and Pell:
For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taut across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in the rhythm, because nothing you do or shout or wish for will happen until the running makes up its mind to stop. So you hold steady, balancing yourself in the wake, and unhook your mind from the everyday while you sit at the silent center of it all and hope that the feeling won't stop till you're good and ready for life to be ordinary once more.
This book also evokes the passion that we all have inside of us, hungry for that freedom looming out on the horizon. I knew that I had chosen a good book when a chapter starts:
The open road. What a trio of words. What a vision of blue sky and untouched hills and narrow trails heading God knew where and being free—free and hungry, free and cold, free and wet, free and lost.
It looks like an easy read~ short and sweet, hinting at the kind of romance that you imagine must be epic with such a classic tale.
It is not easy, or short, or sweet.
It’s more like~
heartbreaking
tragic
thoughtful
honest
lovely with quiet moments of nostalgia, descriptions that will swirl you up and into Pell’s world of scars and ache and searching, and not only a romance or a tale of families, but an exploration of human’s souls and what, after all is said and done, binds us all to one another.
I felt a yearning for Pell’s world because the vivid detail of Salisbury, which you can imagine at the time period, crammed with horses and people and scents. I adored her brothers and sisters~ the quietest of the pack was just as endearing to me as the brashest. Those reminiscences quite simply bled emotion into the story, with that soft yet gradual way as if it didn’t mean to cause such heartache, but just tell the story. Not loud. Not edgy. Not bold or heroic, no shocking impact, just woven in a way that spoke directly to the heart~ but truthfully.
I thought that I would be torn between hating/loving Pell for abandoning her wedding and her family in the process, but Pell’s search for freedom was heartwarming and occasionally made me a bit teary. Pell’s voice had the same effect. When she talked of marrying Birdie, she said:
I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just one more year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagerness of my own life. I will love him and care for him, will never tell him to get his own tea, or sweep the ashes from the hearth or give birth to his own twelfth child himself.
Her determination astounded me, and her honesty often floored me. She wasn’t delusional or wistful~ just brave and strong and even when she was black and blue, with no where to live, she wasn’t someone to pity. Pell is one of my favorite heroines.
Bean was absolutely sweet and is dear to me even after I’ve put the book down, and he will sneak into the heart of everyone who opens this book. (Bean is Pell’s little brother :)
There is a whole cast of gypsies whom I could revisit every day of my life. This book is going to allow you to taste the cold winds of Nomansland and the warmth of the fire after a long journey. And sometimes it will even make you smile a little, after such heartbreak.
It feels like an insult to call this book a romance. It’s a self-discovery, except so much more than even that. It’s finding love and hope and truth, while the whole world is colliding around you. It has a depth and voice to it which everyone will connect~ it may be historical but it will shift your perspective on everything around you anyway.
It helps you to picture the women the left their marriages when it was considered unacceptable and socially wrong, to go off in search of their own future, and their own fortune, and not just a romance, but a love and appreciation of the world despite its hardships and heartbreaks.
And the horses and dogs that ramble through these pages will charm you. Here’s one of my favorite passages about Jack (her part-Arabian horse) and Pell:
For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taut across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in the rhythm, because nothing you do or shout or wish for will happen until the running makes up its mind to stop. So you hold steady, balancing yourself in the wake, and unhook your mind from the everyday while you sit at the silent center of it all and hope that the feeling won't stop till you're good and ready for life to be ordinary once more.
This book also evokes the passion that we all have inside of us, hungry for that freedom looming out on the horizon. I knew that I had chosen a good book when a chapter starts:
The open road. What a trio of words. What a vision of blue sky and untouched hills and narrow trails heading God knew where and being free—free and hungry, free and cold, free and wet, free and lost.
March 9, 2010
Where's the edge, Meg? Where's the creepy factor? No incest, no abuse, no apocalypse. I hardly recognize you, Meg.
Despite it's serious lack of edginess and the fact that I am NOT a horse girl, I actually enjoyed this one. Because it was a Book CLub selection, I had my pen at the ready to take brilliant and thought-provoking notes. And yet. As I turned the final page, my notepad was still blank. I have absolutely no critical thoughts on this book. Not a one. You might be tempted to say it was my shortcoming and not the books...but you would be wrong. I am always critical. I am critical of Sunday comics.
Something about this book, for better or worse, defies deep reading. Superficial surface schtuff. I liked it. I liked it enough to keep reading even when she was babbling about her pretty pretty pony. But I have nothing to say on anything beyond the superficiality (which is apparently a word).
On the feminist note, I like that she was cool with sex and no commitment. Not sure what to say about going back for the man in the end. Yay she's happy? Or damn, another one bites the dust?
Despite it's serious lack of edginess and the fact that I am NOT a horse girl, I actually enjoyed this one. Because it was a Book CLub selection, I had my pen at the ready to take brilliant and thought-provoking notes. And yet. As I turned the final page, my notepad was still blank. I have absolutely no critical thoughts on this book. Not a one. You might be tempted to say it was my shortcoming and not the books...but you would be wrong. I am always critical. I am critical of Sunday comics.
Something about this book, for better or worse, defies deep reading. Superficial surface schtuff. I liked it. I liked it enough to keep reading even when she was babbling about her pretty pretty pony. But I have nothing to say on anything beyond the superficiality (which is apparently a word).
On the feminist note, I like that she was cool with sex and no commitment. Not sure what to say about going back for the man in the end. Yay she's happy? Or damn, another one bites the dust?
August 26, 2009
When I'm opening up a new Meg Rosoff novel I literally never know what to expect. In a good way. She never tells the same story twice. She does generally center her stories around a character who feels ambivalent, anxious, or sometimes downright disenchanted with his or her world. She explores themes both serious and disturbing and her resolutions are bittersweet at best. And yet I love her writing. She's an auto-buy for me and has been ever since I first read How I Live Now and thought I would come apart at the beauty of that book. Readers who love one of her books and long for more of the same with her other books will most likely be disappointed as they are all wildly different tales, the lovely writing being one of the only things they share. But how rare and fine a thing it is to have an author you can always count on but can never quite pin down.
Early on the morning of her wedding day, Pell Ridley sneaks out of the home she's lived in all her life, swipes her dowry money from the teapot, saddles her old horse Jack, and heads for Salisbury Fair. Determined not to become her mother--broken and beaten by a dissolute husband, a host of hungry children, and a hard life in general. Pell won't, she can't, stay and marry her childhood friend Birdie. No matter how much he says he loves her, no matter how many family members and friends are depending upon the match taking place. And so she rides away from it all with only the vaguest notion of finding work at the horse trading at Salisbury Fair. What Pell doesn't count on is her little brother Bean coming along for the journey. Bean doesn't talk, never has, but he seems to know Pell and understand her motives. More than that, he seems to have an essential role to play in what happens to her. She also does not count on the remote Dogman, a poacher she encounters first in Salisbury and once more far away from that place. Of course, nothing goes as it should. In fact, everything that can go wrong does and things get progressively worse as Pell desperately tries to maintain a modicum of control over her own life and, at the same time, not lose the one or two things she considers precious.
The thing about each of Meg Rosoff's novels is that they are short but they never feel short. Quite the opposite. They somehow manage to feel quite epic and THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL is no exception. I closed it feeling as though I'd spent years with Pell instead of the few months the story actually covers. The cover of this book reflects the story quite well. Dark, cold, and spare. The image of a lone white horse fleeing away across an open plain. Rosoff does not shy away from the darkness and despair caused by extreme poverty and an utter lack of options a young woman like Pell would have been familiar with in rural England in the mid-1800s. Her single action on the morning of her wedding day inadvertently sets in motion a chain of reactions she remains initially unaware of but the tale eventually comes full circle and Pell is forced to face the consequences of her choice. Some of them are fair. Most of them are not. I loved Bean. I loved Dogman. I loved Dicken the dog. Pell herself is often a mystery and I spent a good portion of the read attempting to see her clearly. It felt as though she was doing the same. She is a girl torn between her responsibilities and the desires of her spirit.
THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL is a smooth, at times extremely painful, read. It's hard to watch one bad thing after another happen to good characters. It's hard when they're forced to pay for their mistakes over and over again. But I've learned that with Rosoff it always pays to follow her through to the end. The dark and the dreary are balanced by the truly beautiful writing, the sharp glints of irony, and by the brief but shining moments of perfect understanding and compassion you feel when you're reading.
Early on the morning of her wedding day, Pell Ridley sneaks out of the home she's lived in all her life, swipes her dowry money from the teapot, saddles her old horse Jack, and heads for Salisbury Fair. Determined not to become her mother--broken and beaten by a dissolute husband, a host of hungry children, and a hard life in general. Pell won't, she can't, stay and marry her childhood friend Birdie. No matter how much he says he loves her, no matter how many family members and friends are depending upon the match taking place. And so she rides away from it all with only the vaguest notion of finding work at the horse trading at Salisbury Fair. What Pell doesn't count on is her little brother Bean coming along for the journey. Bean doesn't talk, never has, but he seems to know Pell and understand her motives. More than that, he seems to have an essential role to play in what happens to her. She also does not count on the remote Dogman, a poacher she encounters first in Salisbury and once more far away from that place. Of course, nothing goes as it should. In fact, everything that can go wrong does and things get progressively worse as Pell desperately tries to maintain a modicum of control over her own life and, at the same time, not lose the one or two things she considers precious.
The thing about each of Meg Rosoff's novels is that they are short but they never feel short. Quite the opposite. They somehow manage to feel quite epic and THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL is no exception. I closed it feeling as though I'd spent years with Pell instead of the few months the story actually covers. The cover of this book reflects the story quite well. Dark, cold, and spare. The image of a lone white horse fleeing away across an open plain. Rosoff does not shy away from the darkness and despair caused by extreme poverty and an utter lack of options a young woman like Pell would have been familiar with in rural England in the mid-1800s. Her single action on the morning of her wedding day inadvertently sets in motion a chain of reactions she remains initially unaware of but the tale eventually comes full circle and Pell is forced to face the consequences of her choice. Some of them are fair. Most of them are not. I loved Bean. I loved Dogman. I loved Dicken the dog. Pell herself is often a mystery and I spent a good portion of the read attempting to see her clearly. It felt as though she was doing the same. She is a girl torn between her responsibilities and the desires of her spirit.
THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL is a smooth, at times extremely painful, read. It's hard to watch one bad thing after another happen to good characters. It's hard when they're forced to pay for their mistakes over and over again. But I've learned that with Rosoff it always pays to follow her through to the end. The dark and the dreary are balanced by the truly beautiful writing, the sharp glints of irony, and by the brief but shining moments of perfect understanding and compassion you feel when you're reading.
August 31, 2011
The Bride's Farewell is set in mid-19th century Wiltshire and tells the story of runaway bride Pell. Pell's family is trapped in hopeless poverty, while her husband-to-be Bridie comes from a family that is "hard-working, honest and resourceful". They have been friends since childhood and it's assumed that they will be married one day, but Pell looks at her mother, exhausted from childbearing and disappointment, and rejects the future she represents. Because she can't bring herself to refuse Bridie outright, Pell runs away on the morning of their wedding, taking her white horse and her adopted brother Bean, who insists on accompanying her. But she knows the farrier's craft and has a gift with horses, and these talents will be her currency.
Pell's journey is episodic – she meets a gypsy family, the trader Harris, a poacher called Dogman; she loses her horse and her brother and the five pounds she earned at Salisbury fair. Her path crosses and recrosses that of characters she's met earlier as she searches for what she's lost and the story is played out in "an intricate game of hide and seek across Salisbury Plain". Her story is interspersed with flashbacks which recount the history of Pell's family. Although these scenes are vividly evoked, they don't feel necessary and they slow down the story. Do we really need to know so much about Pell's four brothers, all dead before the novel begins?
This novel is so beautifully written that its flaws didn't strike me until after I finished it. Pell is a wonderfully resourceful and independent heroine, but her feelings were often murky, and at times I found it difficult to understand what she wanted. The main storyline is her ongoing quest as she searches for what she's lost and tries to find safety and security for her younger siblings, dispersed after a disaster strikes the family home. There is a romantic subplot which could have illuminated Pell's struggle to choose the future she wants for herself, except that her feelings aren't fully explored. The relationship seems to offer a happy balance between companionship and solitude; she feels content and free and allows for "the possibility that her condition resembled love", but I was never sure whether she wanted the relationship or simply accepted it. Although unconventional, it comes to resemble marriage, which she was running away from at the beginning of the story. Near the end of the novel there is a hint that she's pregnant, but it's not clear whether she still dreads the future she saw when she looked at her mother's worn-out body. Is it different because she's found a man she can truly love? Or has Pell's journey simply led her, by a circuitous route, to accept the fate she was trying to escape? The Bride's Farewell came close to being a brilliant novel, but left too many unanswered questions.
Pell's journey is episodic – she meets a gypsy family, the trader Harris, a poacher called Dogman; she loses her horse and her brother and the five pounds she earned at Salisbury fair. Her path crosses and recrosses that of characters she's met earlier as she searches for what she's lost and the story is played out in "an intricate game of hide and seek across Salisbury Plain". Her story is interspersed with flashbacks which recount the history of Pell's family. Although these scenes are vividly evoked, they don't feel necessary and they slow down the story. Do we really need to know so much about Pell's four brothers, all dead before the novel begins?
This novel is so beautifully written that its flaws didn't strike me until after I finished it. Pell is a wonderfully resourceful and independent heroine, but her feelings were often murky, and at times I found it difficult to understand what she wanted. The main storyline is her ongoing quest as she searches for what she's lost and tries to find safety and security for her younger siblings, dispersed after a disaster strikes the family home. There is a romantic subplot which could have illuminated Pell's struggle to choose the future she wants for herself, except that her feelings aren't fully explored. The relationship seems to offer a happy balance between companionship and solitude; she feels content and free and allows for "the possibility that her condition resembled love", but I was never sure whether she wanted the relationship or simply accepted it. Although unconventional, it comes to resemble marriage, which she was running away from at the beginning of the story. Near the end of the novel there is a hint that she's pregnant, but it's not clear whether she still dreads the future she saw when she looked at her mother's worn-out body. Is it different because she's found a man she can truly love? Or has Pell's journey simply led her, by a circuitous route, to accept the fate she was trying to escape? The Bride's Farewell came close to being a brilliant novel, but left too many unanswered questions.
December 6, 2009
Bleakkkk is pretty much the word I think of when I read this book. The heroine runs away from her impending marriage with a horse and her brother, but life afterward isn't a happy one. It's very bleak and grim and for every half-decent turn, the heroine gets beaten down a little further later.
I didn't connect with any of the characters well. Pell shows some fire with her decision to run away, but life has a way of beating you over the head (well, in this book) so that by the end she seems rather indecisive and heavy, like there's this weight on her shoulders that won't go away for the rest of her life (even if it gets alleviated somewhat later). For all that we got an occasional section detailing her brother's thoughts, he remained very one dimensional for me--he's a little boy that doesn't talk. And has a hard life (like the rest of them). The rest of the characters in this book aren't any better, and a great deal of them are rotten people who the reader would probably, gladly, chuck into a raging river. And the love interest? Well, he isn't even given a name and he's very much the epitome of the strong and silent type. He did, however, spark some of my interest--as in, what in the world is that man even thinking behind that bland face?
Admittedly, this isn't the type of book you go to for fantastical happenings (other the horse scenes in which Pell is apparently fantastic with them). All in all, it's rather depressing, and for all of Pell's struggles, to have the book end up as it did... Well, it made sense and you really don't expect anything more, but, well, can't blame a reader for wanting a bit more happiness in the main character's life.
There are good points to this book though. The writing is really rather lovely, even if you do feel detached from the characters. It's very smooth and made for a quick read. The starkness in the book rings true for life at that time, complete with the desperation and poverty.
To be honest, I'm rather on the fence about the book. It was well done, but it isn't, precisely, my cup of tea. And while I'm not the type of girl who needs her romances spelled out to every single letter, the relationship between the main character and her love interest perplexed me. I can see it happening, but something about it makes me twitch at the same time. All in all, I'd give this book 2.5 stars if I could. Since I can't, I rounded my score to 3 stars.
I didn't connect with any of the characters well. Pell shows some fire with her decision to run away, but life has a way of beating you over the head (well, in this book) so that by the end she seems rather indecisive and heavy, like there's this weight on her shoulders that won't go away for the rest of her life (even if it gets alleviated somewhat later). For all that we got an occasional section detailing her brother's thoughts, he remained very one dimensional for me--he's a little boy that doesn't talk. And has a hard life (like the rest of them). The rest of the characters in this book aren't any better, and a great deal of them are rotten people who the reader would probably, gladly, chuck into a raging river. And the love interest? Well, he isn't even given a name and he's very much the epitome of the strong and silent type. He did, however, spark some of my interest--as in, what in the world is that man even thinking behind that bland face?
Admittedly, this isn't the type of book you go to for fantastical happenings (other the horse scenes in which Pell is apparently fantastic with them). All in all, it's rather depressing, and for all of Pell's struggles, to have the book end up as it did... Well, it made sense and you really don't expect anything more, but, well, can't blame a reader for wanting a bit more happiness in the main character's life.
There are good points to this book though. The writing is really rather lovely, even if you do feel detached from the characters. It's very smooth and made for a quick read. The starkness in the book rings true for life at that time, complete with the desperation and poverty.
To be honest, I'm rather on the fence about the book. It was well done, but it isn't, precisely, my cup of tea. And while I'm not the type of girl who needs her romances spelled out to every single letter, the relationship between the main character and her love interest perplexed me. I can see it happening, but something about it makes me twitch at the same time. All in all, I'd give this book 2.5 stars if I could. Since I can't, I rounded my score to 3 stars.
June 26, 2017
A short, entertaining novel in an unexpected style, with a main character that isn't just a scared little girl.
November 25, 2019
I have just finished this and absolutely loved it!
It's like a proper old fairy story about a girl (called Pell) who has to leave home and make her way in the world. Unusually, she leaves on her wedding day, having decided that there is no way on earth that she can marry the man in question.
Pell takes her pony, Jack, and as much as she can carry foodwise, which is not very much, and is followed by her brother Bean, who refuses to be left behind.
They meets all manner of people on her journey, some pleasant and helpful, some not so much. There are periods of calm and stability interspersed with wandering and searching.
Pell is strong and resourceful, spirited and brave, kind and hardworking. I was rooting for her the whole time.
The story was refreshing and so enjoyable. I am not surprised that it won the Carnegie Medal!
It's like a proper old fairy story about a girl (called Pell) who has to leave home and make her way in the world. Unusually, she leaves on her wedding day, having decided that there is no way on earth that she can marry the man in question.
Pell takes her pony, Jack, and as much as she can carry foodwise, which is not very much, and is followed by her brother Bean, who refuses to be left behind.
They meets all manner of people on her journey, some pleasant and helpful, some not so much. There are periods of calm and stability interspersed with wandering and searching.
Pell is strong and resourceful, spirited and brave, kind and hardworking. I was rooting for her the whole time.
The story was refreshing and so enjoyable. I am not surprised that it won the Carnegie Medal!
did-not-finish
April 27, 2018I loved two other books by Rosoff, but sadly I just couldn't finish this one. I've tried to push my way trough it so many times and finally I realised that there is no point in trying to force myself to finish a book that I'm not enjoying. This was by no means a bad book, but something about it just didn't grab me and half-way through I still wasn't invested in the story.
August 23, 2024
i’ve read this book multiple times and don’t get why it gets such mixed reviews. i love its sparse dialogue and description and i think the whole novella feels like one extended ballad. i also always picture jack o’connell in the lady chatterley’s lover adaptation as dogman 😭
September 14, 2019
Don’t bother unless you love horses.
January 21, 2020
The Bride's Farewell Review'
Indeed a good book.
I like Pell.
Indeed a good book.
I like Pell.
August 20, 2010
To be honest, I was disappointed by this novel. I’ve read 2 other books by this author – “How I live now” (one of my favourite YA books) and “What I was” (rather interesting), so I bought “The Bride’s Farewell”, expecting to really enjoy it, but a lot of events and characters in “The Bride’s Farewell” weren’t to my liking .
The tone of book is kind of matter-of-fact and bleak. Pell’s journey progressed at a too slow pace for my taste. There was barely any interesting action going on before Bean’s and the horse’s disappearance. Besides, most secondary characters were rather unlikeable too. Sometimes it seemed like the whole world was against Pell – Harris robbed Pell of her money, Robert Ames’ mother and bride couldn’t wait to get rid of her, William (and Eliza too) were selfish brats that terribly mistreated Pell, the Andover’s workhouse owner indirectly caused Bean’s flight and Sally’s death, etc.
Quite a few times I enjoyed the flashbacks much more than the Pell’s adventures away from home. Meg Rosoff depicted the misery and penury of Pell’s family very well. I really felt for the girls whose life conditions gave them no good prospects for the future. Pell herself was horrified at the very likely image of her life with Birdie : “…I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just another year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagreness of my own life.” No wonder that she decided to flee her home in search of better fortune instead of marrying her beau.
Actually, at first I wasn’t very fond of Pell’s character. I think that this archetype (strong independent female protagonist) is overused, and the main character felt one-dimensional sometimes. But with time Pell grew on me. I enjoyed a lot her interactions with Dogman and her determination to find Bean and her sisters.
Also, I should mention that I always disliked books that focus a lot on the animals (“White Fang”, for example). I am much more interested in human psychology than in the behaviour and physiology of horses, which we’re swamped with in the first half of “The Bride’s Farewell”. Speaking of animals, I have to admit I was rather fond of Pell’s dog, Dicken. Rosoff portrayed him in such an adorable way!
Actually, the main reason why I decided to give three stars to this book was Dogman’s and Pell’s relationship. Dogman is actually my favourite character in “The Bride’s Farewell”. His silence and indifference towards our strong and independent protagonist made him rather intriguing, I was very curious about his past and the reasons why he was so reclusive. Sometimes the romance in fiction strikes me as cheesy/boring/predictable, but I really loved Dogman and Pell as a couple. It was obvious they cared about each other, but still maintained a lot of independence in their relationship.
I also liked several other things about “The Bride’s Farewell.” I think the author brilliantly described the dreadful life in workhouses. The starvation, the hard work, very bad living conditions and all of this experienced by children and teenagers horrified me. There was also one scene that made me laugh out loud (the dialogue between Pell and Robert Ames’ brother). The part when Pell came back to her village was really well-written, it was tragic and the twist with Esther having burnt Pell’s house which resulted in her parents’ deaths made me gasp with shock.
The ending was wonderful, in my opinion. The depressing story of Pell’s misfortunes ended (mostly) happily. I was glad that despite all her losses (parents, most of her sisters, brother, favourite horse) she found love and a new home in the end.
The tone of book is kind of matter-of-fact and bleak. Pell’s journey progressed at a too slow pace for my taste. There was barely any interesting action going on before Bean’s and the horse’s disappearance. Besides, most secondary characters were rather unlikeable too. Sometimes it seemed like the whole world was against Pell – Harris robbed Pell of her money, Robert Ames’ mother and bride couldn’t wait to get rid of her, William (and Eliza too) were selfish brats that terribly mistreated Pell, the Andover’s workhouse owner indirectly caused Bean’s flight and Sally’s death, etc.
Quite a few times I enjoyed the flashbacks much more than the Pell’s adventures away from home. Meg Rosoff depicted the misery and penury of Pell’s family very well. I really felt for the girls whose life conditions gave them no good prospects for the future. Pell herself was horrified at the very likely image of her life with Birdie : “…I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just another year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagreness of my own life.” No wonder that she decided to flee her home in search of better fortune instead of marrying her beau.
Actually, at first I wasn’t very fond of Pell’s character. I think that this archetype (strong independent female protagonist) is overused, and the main character felt one-dimensional sometimes. But with time Pell grew on me. I enjoyed a lot her interactions with Dogman and her determination to find Bean and her sisters.
Also, I should mention that I always disliked books that focus a lot on the animals (“White Fang”, for example). I am much more interested in human psychology than in the behaviour and physiology of horses, which we’re swamped with in the first half of “The Bride’s Farewell”. Speaking of animals, I have to admit I was rather fond of Pell’s dog, Dicken. Rosoff portrayed him in such an adorable way!
Actually, the main reason why I decided to give three stars to this book was Dogman’s and Pell’s relationship. Dogman is actually my favourite character in “The Bride’s Farewell”. His silence and indifference towards our strong and independent protagonist made him rather intriguing, I was very curious about his past and the reasons why he was so reclusive. Sometimes the romance in fiction strikes me as cheesy/boring/predictable, but I really loved Dogman and Pell as a couple. It was obvious they cared about each other, but still maintained a lot of independence in their relationship.
I also liked several other things about “The Bride’s Farewell.” I think the author brilliantly described the dreadful life in workhouses. The starvation, the hard work, very bad living conditions and all of this experienced by children and teenagers horrified me. There was also one scene that made me laugh out loud (the dialogue between Pell and Robert Ames’ brother). The part when Pell came back to her village was really well-written, it was tragic and the twist with Esther having burnt Pell’s house which resulted in her parents’ deaths made me gasp with shock.
The ending was wonderful, in my opinion. The depressing story of Pell’s misfortunes ended (mostly) happily. I was glad that despite all her losses (parents, most of her sisters, brother, favourite horse) she found love and a new home in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2010
http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/review...
Meg Rosoff’s novel The Bride’s Farewell has the ingredients of a fine story: a scenic rural setting and a headstrong heroine mix with the author’s refined prose in a tale of self-discovery. Ultimately, the story is just fine. Okay. But for a writer of Rosoff’s caliber, being mediocre is an unexpected disappointment.
Rosoff’s previous works, including the award-winning How I Live Now and the haunting What I Was, evidence her ability to craft complex, memorable novels. In comparison, her latest offering can only be described as simple and underwhelming.
After watching her mother’s spirit wither from the burden of a no-good husband, too many children, and not enough money, young Pell Ridley shuns the role of doleful wife. On the morning of her wedding day in “eighteen hundred and fifty something,” Pell steals away into the rural English countryside. Her prized white horse and young, mute stepbrother as her only companions, Pell chooses the unknown over certain misery with naïve optimism:
The open road. What a trio of words. What a vision of blue sky and untouched hills and narrow trails heading God knew where and being free—free and hungry, free and cold, free and wet, free and lost. Who could mourn such conditions, faced with the alternative?
Of course, her optimism soon leads to disappointment. Turns out hungry, cold, wet, and lost make for a less than tolerable journey. Over the course of the short book, Pell faces countless setbacks and curious characters, eventually forcing her to grow up, accept responsibility, and open herself to love.
The book suffers from an overabundance of melancholy in tone. The scenic rural landscape, while elegantly described, casts a gloomy shadow over an already bleak plot. Characters reveal their callousness, tragedies strike, and Pell’s spirit wavers. Though she remains a willful and resilient protagonist, a distinct sadness looms about her.
One could argue that Pell’s cheerlessness is justified, given the time period and circumstances. Rosoff deliberately embraces stark realism, lending the book a tone of authenticity. After all, women of the mid-nineteenth century suffered oppression and injustices inconceivable to modern readers. Pell’s prediction of her intended marriage is melodramatic but sincere:
I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just one more year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagerness of my own life.
Pell’s disheartened attitude swells throughout the novel, as she experiences loss and disappointment. When something good—or at least not terrible—happens, she reacts with mild indifference. After losing everything and everyone of value to her, she eventually reclaims something resembling a stable life. Still, Pell exhibits little evolution of character, her defiance fading into tired submission:
Incessantly, it seemed, life plagued her with responsibilities, made her fall in love, ripped away any consolation she might find. Sisters and parents, brothers and horses… All staked their claim on her, each conspiring to weigh down her soul… Every day brought unwanted connections, losses, and complications that broke her heart.
The somber and defeated tone weighs down a story that could have been more exciting and inspiring. Rather than offering a moment of escapism via historical fiction—the book features exotic gypsies, a handsome and brooding hero, and a rustic setting—The Bride’s Farewell depresses readers. Not even Rosoff’s exceptional writing could save this downer.
Meg Rosoff’s novel The Bride’s Farewell has the ingredients of a fine story: a scenic rural setting and a headstrong heroine mix with the author’s refined prose in a tale of self-discovery. Ultimately, the story is just fine. Okay. But for a writer of Rosoff’s caliber, being mediocre is an unexpected disappointment.
Rosoff’s previous works, including the award-winning How I Live Now and the haunting What I Was, evidence her ability to craft complex, memorable novels. In comparison, her latest offering can only be described as simple and underwhelming.
After watching her mother’s spirit wither from the burden of a no-good husband, too many children, and not enough money, young Pell Ridley shuns the role of doleful wife. On the morning of her wedding day in “eighteen hundred and fifty something,” Pell steals away into the rural English countryside. Her prized white horse and young, mute stepbrother as her only companions, Pell chooses the unknown over certain misery with naïve optimism:
The open road. What a trio of words. What a vision of blue sky and untouched hills and narrow trails heading God knew where and being free—free and hungry, free and cold, free and wet, free and lost. Who could mourn such conditions, faced with the alternative?
Of course, her optimism soon leads to disappointment. Turns out hungry, cold, wet, and lost make for a less than tolerable journey. Over the course of the short book, Pell faces countless setbacks and curious characters, eventually forcing her to grow up, accept responsibility, and open herself to love.
The book suffers from an overabundance of melancholy in tone. The scenic rural landscape, while elegantly described, casts a gloomy shadow over an already bleak plot. Characters reveal their callousness, tragedies strike, and Pell’s spirit wavers. Though she remains a willful and resilient protagonist, a distinct sadness looms about her.
One could argue that Pell’s cheerlessness is justified, given the time period and circumstances. Rosoff deliberately embraces stark realism, lending the book a tone of authenticity. After all, women of the mid-nineteenth century suffered oppression and injustices inconceivable to modern readers. Pell’s prediction of her intended marriage is melodramatic but sincere:
I shall bring him his tea and work myself to death by the time I am thirty bearing children and scrubbing floors and working in the fields digging turnips till my hands bleed and my back gives out and everyone urges me to keep on for just one more year, at which point I will die of exhaustion and the meagerness of my own life.
Pell’s disheartened attitude swells throughout the novel, as she experiences loss and disappointment. When something good—or at least not terrible—happens, she reacts with mild indifference. After losing everything and everyone of value to her, she eventually reclaims something resembling a stable life. Still, Pell exhibits little evolution of character, her defiance fading into tired submission:
Incessantly, it seemed, life plagued her with responsibilities, made her fall in love, ripped away any consolation she might find. Sisters and parents, brothers and horses… All staked their claim on her, each conspiring to weigh down her soul… Every day brought unwanted connections, losses, and complications that broke her heart.
The somber and defeated tone weighs down a story that could have been more exciting and inspiring. Rather than offering a moment of escapism via historical fiction—the book features exotic gypsies, a handsome and brooding hero, and a rustic setting—The Bride’s Farewell depresses readers. Not even Rosoff’s exceptional writing could save this downer.
January 29, 2010
See the review on our teen blog! http://palatinelibraryteens.blogspot....
In Meg Rosoff's latest book, The Bride's Farewell, readers are transported to rural England in the 1850s. The book begins with a gallop, literally, and the pace never slows from page one. Pell Ridley is a runaway bride, and on the morning of her wedding, she takes her trusty horse, Jack, and rides away from a future of toil and child-rearing and into a future of uncertainty and adventure. Except that Bean, her mute younger brother, stubbornly insists on joining her. And so the unlikely trio of heroes face the open road together.
Pell is a fiercely independent heroine, and sometimes a bit too hard-headed, which gets her into trouble. But, she does have one talent: she knows horses, meaning she can discern their nature and temperament with just a glance. Trained from a young age by the local blacksmith to raise horses, Pell thinks her experience will help her find work at the Salisbury horse fair. With that vague destination in mind, they set off, having never been far beyond the limits of their small, impoverished village.
While reading the story, I couldn't help but be reminded of the limited freedom women had back then (and continue to have, in some cases). For instance, townsfolk make all kinds of presumptions about the moral character of an unaccompanied young woman traveler with a small child. Pell is also paid much less whenever she finds work because she is female. She also has little or no education, since her father only provided formal schooling for his sons. Growing up, Pell saw her mother waste away under the burden of raising nine children without support from her drunken husband, and says to herself, "Not now, not ever." Even though she knows she could love Birdie (her fiance and childhood sweetheart), she knows the lack of freedom would kill her spirit in the end.
Although the book is short, it has an epic, sweeping feel, like one of Robin McKinley's novels. (It's almost The Hero and the Crown--fiesty, unconventional heroine with a white horse, minus the dragon-slaying, of course). The sights and sounds of the bustling Salisbury fair give you glimpses into a bygone era, and the author describes the milieu of gypsies, traders, and horses with such description that you wonder if she had been there herself. When Bean becomes separated from Pell and she faces all kinds of hardships, you can't help but feel lost with despair along with Pell. But, you also keep hoping, right along with her. This is a great read for young adult and adult escapists, dreamers, and adventurists.
I'll end with one of my favorite passages from the book that best defines Pell's character:
"For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taut across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in the rhythm, because nothing you do or shout or wish for will happen until the running makes up its mind to stop. So you hold steady, balancing yourself in the wake, and unhook your mind from the everyday while you wait at the silent center of it all and hope that the feeling won't stop till you're good and ready for life to be ordinary once more.The problem being that she never was."
In Meg Rosoff's latest book, The Bride's Farewell, readers are transported to rural England in the 1850s. The book begins with a gallop, literally, and the pace never slows from page one. Pell Ridley is a runaway bride, and on the morning of her wedding, she takes her trusty horse, Jack, and rides away from a future of toil and child-rearing and into a future of uncertainty and adventure. Except that Bean, her mute younger brother, stubbornly insists on joining her. And so the unlikely trio of heroes face the open road together.
Pell is a fiercely independent heroine, and sometimes a bit too hard-headed, which gets her into trouble. But, she does have one talent: she knows horses, meaning she can discern their nature and temperament with just a glance. Trained from a young age by the local blacksmith to raise horses, Pell thinks her experience will help her find work at the Salisbury horse fair. With that vague destination in mind, they set off, having never been far beyond the limits of their small, impoverished village.
While reading the story, I couldn't help but be reminded of the limited freedom women had back then (and continue to have, in some cases). For instance, townsfolk make all kinds of presumptions about the moral character of an unaccompanied young woman traveler with a small child. Pell is also paid much less whenever she finds work because she is female. She also has little or no education, since her father only provided formal schooling for his sons. Growing up, Pell saw her mother waste away under the burden of raising nine children without support from her drunken husband, and says to herself, "Not now, not ever." Even though she knows she could love Birdie (her fiance and childhood sweetheart), she knows the lack of freedom would kill her spirit in the end.
Although the book is short, it has an epic, sweeping feel, like one of Robin McKinley's novels. (It's almost The Hero and the Crown--fiesty, unconventional heroine with a white horse, minus the dragon-slaying, of course). The sights and sounds of the bustling Salisbury fair give you glimpses into a bygone era, and the author describes the milieu of gypsies, traders, and horses with such description that you wonder if she had been there herself. When Bean becomes separated from Pell and she faces all kinds of hardships, you can't help but feel lost with despair along with Pell. But, you also keep hoping, right along with her. This is a great read for young adult and adult escapists, dreamers, and adventurists.
I'll end with one of my favorite passages from the book that best defines Pell's character:
"For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taut across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in the rhythm, because nothing you do or shout or wish for will happen until the running makes up its mind to stop. So you hold steady, balancing yourself in the wake, and unhook your mind from the everyday while you wait at the silent center of it all and hope that the feeling won't stop till you're good and ready for life to be ordinary once more.The problem being that she never was."
June 5, 2016
When my aunt handed me her copy of this book not five years ago, she told me that she can't fathom what the award-winning author, Meg Rosoff, wanted to say when she created the story of Pell Ridley. Now that I've read the first 90 pages and instinctively skimmed the remaining 95 pages, I can understand her meaning. I even looked at the publishing reference to find out which publishing house bought the rights to this book (Penguin Books) out of mild amusement and a bit of disbelief that a book with very little depth and magic can actually be published.
On the cover of The Bride's Farewell are the promising words of the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon: Magical and utterly faultless. Rosoff's grammar was definitely faultless, but to describe her fourth novel as magical would be an inaccuracy.
Here's why.
The story is about Pell Ridley, a runaway bride who, with her adopted brother, Bean, went to a horse fair in Salisbury to look for work. Bean, who was mute, does not make a good companion for the journey so there was very little dialogue between the siblings along the way. There was also little urgency to speed along or to hide. No worries of being discovered by their father in the next town. Brother and sister and their horse, Jack, moved along like it was the most ordinary thing to do on the morning of Pell's wedding.
The first sign that told me this book is not for me is when Rosoff described almost everything that Pell saw on the road to and at Salisbury, a method that writers use to set the mood of the story, except that she filled every chapter with meaningless observations of life at the fair, not images that actually tell something about the time and place or at least move the story along. For readers like me who search for more insight about the characters and their motivations and the world they live in, that can be a bit hard to take for two reasons. First, there's nothing original about describing what is happening in the environment especially when the character has nothing to offer than superficial commentary. Second, it is boring to be reading about what a character managed to eat every night at a fair and how comfortable or not she is in her makeshift dwelling.
The second sign that this book is not for me is the seeming lack of plot. Is finding out that her childhood home was burned down a plot? Is losing her brother, Bean, at the fair a plot? Obviously not, but that's all that was happening in the story that remotely drives Pell to do what she needs to do. They are not enough to make me curious about what happens in the next page because they don't reveal anything about Pell or the complexity of her love for her family.
It's frustrating to read a character you can't know very well through her thoughts or actions. Even at the end, I don't know if Pell wanted to get married to the hunter she met. Does she love him or does she just need him to survive?
Overall, there's no fairy tale magic here, but just a lot of unexpressed and unexplored depth of emotions.
On the cover of The Bride's Farewell are the promising words of the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon: Magical and utterly faultless. Rosoff's grammar was definitely faultless, but to describe her fourth novel as magical would be an inaccuracy.
Here's why.
The story is about Pell Ridley, a runaway bride who, with her adopted brother, Bean, went to a horse fair in Salisbury to look for work. Bean, who was mute, does not make a good companion for the journey so there was very little dialogue between the siblings along the way. There was also little urgency to speed along or to hide. No worries of being discovered by their father in the next town. Brother and sister and their horse, Jack, moved along like it was the most ordinary thing to do on the morning of Pell's wedding.
The first sign that told me this book is not for me is when Rosoff described almost everything that Pell saw on the road to and at Salisbury, a method that writers use to set the mood of the story, except that she filled every chapter with meaningless observations of life at the fair, not images that actually tell something about the time and place or at least move the story along. For readers like me who search for more insight about the characters and their motivations and the world they live in, that can be a bit hard to take for two reasons. First, there's nothing original about describing what is happening in the environment especially when the character has nothing to offer than superficial commentary. Second, it is boring to be reading about what a character managed to eat every night at a fair and how comfortable or not she is in her makeshift dwelling.
The second sign that this book is not for me is the seeming lack of plot. Is finding out that her childhood home was burned down a plot? Is losing her brother, Bean, at the fair a plot? Obviously not, but that's all that was happening in the story that remotely drives Pell to do what she needs to do. They are not enough to make me curious about what happens in the next page because they don't reveal anything about Pell or the complexity of her love for her family.
It's frustrating to read a character you can't know very well through her thoughts or actions. Even at the end, I don't know if Pell wanted to get married to the hunter she met. Does she love him or does she just need him to survive?
Overall, there's no fairy tale magic here, but just a lot of unexpressed and unexplored depth of emotions.
January 29, 2024
I thought the book was both beautifully written and annoyingly frustrating. The main character, Pell, comes from a highly dysfunctional family and has decided that she is going to forego the expected route of marriage and children, after watching what it has done to her mother. She bravely sets off to make her way in the world, and despite many, many obstacles proves herself to be a survivor. Despite eschewing family life for herself, much of her story becomes centered around concern for the welfare of her siblings. On her journey, she lives with a hunter with whom she finds sexual satisfaction, financial stability, and a certain amiable ease. Ultimately, I felt the ending fell flat as I kept hoping she would use her brain and skills (she has some expertise with horses) to carve out a place for herself in the world. Instead, when she doesn't know what else is to become of her, she returns to the hunter where she at least felt safe. More honest than my version? Probably. But that was the frustration. The character starts out being willing to defy societal expectations and ends the story by finding a reliable roof over her head and meekly offering "whatever you like" as she negotiates for her future partnership.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2025
I'm happy it was a short book read it in one evening. I couldn't get into it story wasn't exciting shame .
August 9, 2020
Review originally published on The Reading Hobbit
When I first read this book, it was a Dutch translation and I was about twelve years old. It was different from the books I usually read, but I loved it. I returned it to my school library, and kept thinking about it for the next decade. Every once in a while, it would just pop up in my thoughts till the point I just had to read it again. I reread it about two years ago, and this week again and I've fallen in love with it more than ever.
I want to call this book lyrical, but I can't really figure out why. The writing is great, I can't find any fault with it and it completely carries me away into the story, but I wouldn't call it lyrical. Yet the book gives the sense that it is a folksong come alive, full of the images of dew on grass, the horrors of the workhouses, the freedom and terror of life on the road. And the odd extremities of kindness and cruelty that lives in people.
What I find really admirable in this book is that the characters are so human, so flawed and so kind and so diverse in personalities. There are some real weirdos and some really cruel people, but also kind ones and strange outcasts with a heart of gold. But I especially like Pell and how torn she is between wanting what she really wants, and wanting to conform to what she's been taught to want.
It's a beautiful tale, but with harsh truths woven through it. Nothing is ever simple in this book. Actions have unforeseen consequences, some bad, some good. But the good and the bad doesn't happen like you expect from a novel. There's no reason, no punishment or reward. Things just happen. Most of all this book gives a sense of how incredibly unfair life can be. Yet it's not a bleak book, as it also leaves you with hope that perhaps it might be all right.
Something I realized now that I've read it three times, is that there's a certain symmetry to the story, the closing image is almost the same as the opening one, except sort of opposite. Very interestingly done, and it makes me think of a folksong even more.
What I also really loved were the horses, and how Rosoff really manages to capture the diverse nature of horses. Often in books, horses are pictured as nothing more than large stuffed animals without any personality whatsoever, but Rosoff captures their wildness, their spirit. Really well-done.
(I do have to mention that in most reviews people seem miffed that it's not like How I Live Now or Rosoff's other books, and yeah, no, it really isn't. I couldn't get through How I Live Now, but The Bride's Farewell is one of my favorite books, so perhaps if you want something like her other books, this one isn't for you.)
The Bride's Farewell is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and -warming tale that'll make you wish for your bare feet on a dirt road.
When I first read this book, it was a Dutch translation and I was about twelve years old. It was different from the books I usually read, but I loved it. I returned it to my school library, and kept thinking about it for the next decade. Every once in a while, it would just pop up in my thoughts till the point I just had to read it again. I reread it about two years ago, and this week again and I've fallen in love with it more than ever.
I want to call this book lyrical, but I can't really figure out why. The writing is great, I can't find any fault with it and it completely carries me away into the story, but I wouldn't call it lyrical. Yet the book gives the sense that it is a folksong come alive, full of the images of dew on grass, the horrors of the workhouses, the freedom and terror of life on the road. And the odd extremities of kindness and cruelty that lives in people.
What I find really admirable in this book is that the characters are so human, so flawed and so kind and so diverse in personalities. There are some real weirdos and some really cruel people, but also kind ones and strange outcasts with a heart of gold. But I especially like Pell and how torn she is between wanting what she really wants, and wanting to conform to what she's been taught to want.
It's a beautiful tale, but with harsh truths woven through it. Nothing is ever simple in this book. Actions have unforeseen consequences, some bad, some good. But the good and the bad doesn't happen like you expect from a novel. There's no reason, no punishment or reward. Things just happen. Most of all this book gives a sense of how incredibly unfair life can be. Yet it's not a bleak book, as it also leaves you with hope that perhaps it might be all right.
Something I realized now that I've read it three times, is that there's a certain symmetry to the story, the closing image is almost the same as the opening one, except sort of opposite. Very interestingly done, and it makes me think of a folksong even more.
What I also really loved were the horses, and how Rosoff really manages to capture the diverse nature of horses. Often in books, horses are pictured as nothing more than large stuffed animals without any personality whatsoever, but Rosoff captures their wildness, their spirit. Really well-done.
(I do have to mention that in most reviews people seem miffed that it's not like How I Live Now or Rosoff's other books, and yeah, no, it really isn't. I couldn't get through How I Live Now, but The Bride's Farewell is one of my favorite books, so perhaps if you want something like her other books, this one isn't for you.)
The Bride's Farewell is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and -warming tale that'll make you wish for your bare feet on a dirt road.
January 28, 2023
Well, it's prettily written, I'll give it that.
The biggest issue with it is I feel like I never got to know the main character, let alone any of the others. She had a story but no personality. Her traits were that she was good with horses and didn't want to marry, and because she's pretty a lot of guys are very lecherous towards her and a lot of women are snide about her surely "causing trouble".
It's a shame in that there's some nice details in the characters' stories - particularly that of Esther. But how can these stories elicit any feeling if there's no connection to the characters?
There was wasted potential in the romance between Pell and Dogman. It started off developing slowly but sweetly as her feelings towards him went from wholly negative to more neutral, but then they got together with no real bearing. It wasn't even out of lust. She got sexually and physically assaulted by another guy, Dogman nursed her back to health, and then, when she's better-ish - just tired and bruised - he kisses her for no particular reason. If I were Pell, I'd think, "For fuck's sake, again?!", but apparently she's fine with it and now they're living together as a couple. It comes from nowhere and it feels an awful lot like the author just got bored of making up reasons for the two of them to come to like each other. Dogman is, at least, vaguely likeable.
If I were to recount the events of this book, it would sound like an awful lot happened, but it feels so sparse and uneventful while you're reading it - again, I think this is because of how flat and nothing the characters are. This feels like a shell of a great story, but it just isn't quite there.
The biggest issue with it is I feel like I never got to know the main character, let alone any of the others. She had a story but no personality. Her traits were that she was good with horses and didn't want to marry, and because she's pretty a lot of guys are very lecherous towards her and a lot of women are snide about her surely "causing trouble".
It's a shame in that there's some nice details in the characters' stories - particularly that of Esther. But how can these stories elicit any feeling if there's no connection to the characters?
There was wasted potential in the romance between Pell and Dogman. It started off developing slowly but sweetly as her feelings towards him went from wholly negative to more neutral, but then they got together with no real bearing. It wasn't even out of lust. She got sexually and physically assaulted by another guy, Dogman nursed her back to health, and then, when she's better-ish - just tired and bruised - he kisses her for no particular reason. If I were Pell, I'd think, "For fuck's sake, again?!", but apparently she's fine with it and now they're living together as a couple. It comes from nowhere and it feels an awful lot like the author just got bored of making up reasons for the two of them to come to like each other. Dogman is, at least, vaguely likeable.
If I were to recount the events of this book, it would sound like an awful lot happened, but it feels so sparse and uneventful while you're reading it - again, I think this is because of how flat and nothing the characters are. This feels like a shell of a great story, but it just isn't quite there.
January 18, 2024
3,5* heb naar mijn mening al veel betere boeken van deze schrijfster gelezen. Maar nog steeds helemaal fan!!!
April 10, 2011
I was debating wether to give this 2 stars or 1, and i decided that i was only going to give it 2 because i hate giving bad reveiws and hardly ever do, so considering how bad this review is, the story must be really bad!!
Things i liked:
1) How all the characters kinda linked together some how, as you went along
2) . . . That it eventually ended!!
Things I Didnt Like:
1) There was no introduction
2) Nothing happend
3) It needed to be ALOT shorter
4) I never actually fount out why she didnt want to marry birdie, at first i thought it was bcause she didnt like the whole guy owns girl thing but then she went and married dogman anyway (at least i think she did i may have made that up myself to try and improve the story!!! Someone tell me if it is true!!)
5) Halfway through pell seemed to forget shed lost the horse and bean, and i loved bean, so that really annoyed me!!
6) She acted like she was posh, but apparantley she wasnt
7) The whole story was her walking around not really heading anywhere, she spent a few nights on the street but apart from that she had people looking after her and letting her stay at their house (this was totally unbelievable) and then would just walk out on them and never say thank you!
8) NOTHING HAPPENED
Overall it was really quite bad and im annoyed that this got on the carnegie list and the sky is everywhere didnt :(
Things i liked:
1) How all the characters kinda linked together some how, as you went along
2) . . . That it eventually ended!!
Things I Didnt Like:
1) There was no introduction
2) Nothing happend
3) It needed to be ALOT shorter
4) I never actually fount out why she didnt want to marry birdie, at first i thought it was bcause she didnt like the whole guy owns girl thing but then she went and married dogman anyway (at least i think she did i may have made that up myself to try and improve the story!!! Someone tell me if it is true!!)
5) Halfway through pell seemed to forget shed lost the horse and bean, and i loved bean, so that really annoyed me!!
6) She acted like she was posh, but apparantley she wasnt
7) The whole story was her walking around not really heading anywhere, she spent a few nights on the street but apart from that she had people looking after her and letting her stay at their house (this was totally unbelievable) and then would just walk out on them and never say thank you!
8) NOTHING HAPPENED
Overall it was really quite bad and im annoyed that this got on the carnegie list and the sky is everywhere didnt :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2009
In The Bride's Farewell, by Meg Rosoff we meet Pell Ridley. Pell is one of nine children who decides to run away on the morning of her wedding rather than go through with her marriage to a local blacksmith. Pell takes her horse Jack, her youngest brother Bean, who is mute, and some money that was saved for the wedding and, takes off for the horse fair hoping to make it on her own.
Pell is strong , smart and independent, and she seems to know what she she wants in life. She witnessed her mother's marriage to an alcoholic husband, and the difficult life she had trying to raise so many children. Pell knew for herself she wanted more out of life. (I really liked this about Pell considering this story took place in the mid 1800's in rural England).
I thought the cover of this book was gorgeous. The character of Pell was well developed, the historical detail was good, but as for the rest of the story and characters -- something seemed missing to me. Even though this was a relatively short book, it was a somewhat unsatisfying read for me -- just so so. However, if you enjoy historical novels, horses, and/or a story with a bit of romance in it, then don't go by me, this book may be just the book for you. This book will be published on August 6, 2009.
3.5/5 stars
Pell is strong , smart and independent, and she seems to know what she she wants in life. She witnessed her mother's marriage to an alcoholic husband, and the difficult life she had trying to raise so many children. Pell knew for herself she wanted more out of life. (I really liked this about Pell considering this story took place in the mid 1800's in rural England).
I thought the cover of this book was gorgeous. The character of Pell was well developed, the historical detail was good, but as for the rest of the story and characters -- something seemed missing to me. Even though this was a relatively short book, it was a somewhat unsatisfying read for me -- just so so. However, if you enjoy historical novels, horses, and/or a story with a bit of romance in it, then don't go by me, this book may be just the book for you. This book will be published on August 6, 2009.
3.5/5 stars
August 9, 2014
Spoilers below.
Pell Ridley doesn’t want to be married. She has seen her own mother become a creature of burden and misery after so many children and a life of work. On the morning of her wedding, Pell sneaks away into the night. Her mute half-brother (Bean) leaves with her on her beloved horse, Jack.
On the hunt for work they end up at a horse fair. Pell is a horse expert and she helps a man buy the best horses in return for payment of five pounds – but in the process she loses Bean, her horse and the money.
In her search to find them, she endures much hardship. She returns home as a last resort, finds her parents dead and her sisters in a workhouse. She still hasn’t found Bean and even after finding a perfect job in a stables for her and her sisters, she never settles. In her final search she finds him with his real mother and happy to be there. She meets Jack and his caring owner, leaves one sister in the job she loves and returns to a man who helped her months before. A man she can love and finally find peace with.
The Bride’s Farewell is set in early 19th century England. Pell is a strong character even when all seems hopeless. She’s strong minded and loyal to the ones she loves. The cover doesn’t do this story justice.
Pell Ridley doesn’t want to be married. She has seen her own mother become a creature of burden and misery after so many children and a life of work. On the morning of her wedding, Pell sneaks away into the night. Her mute half-brother (Bean) leaves with her on her beloved horse, Jack.
On the hunt for work they end up at a horse fair. Pell is a horse expert and she helps a man buy the best horses in return for payment of five pounds – but in the process she loses Bean, her horse and the money.
In her search to find them, she endures much hardship. She returns home as a last resort, finds her parents dead and her sisters in a workhouse. She still hasn’t found Bean and even after finding a perfect job in a stables for her and her sisters, she never settles. In her final search she finds him with his real mother and happy to be there. She meets Jack and his caring owner, leaves one sister in the job she loves and returns to a man who helped her months before. A man she can love and finally find peace with.
The Bride’s Farewell is set in early 19th century England. Pell is a strong character even when all seems hopeless. She’s strong minded and loyal to the ones she loves. The cover doesn’t do this story justice.
May 16, 2012
I started this book as an audio CD, then picked up the hard copy as the library as I got caught up in the story and didn't want to wait until the next driving opportunity. It was well narrated by a woman named Susan...? The story was good. Not complicated or sophisticated but I liked the main character and the back up characters were also well crafted. The book turned out to be YA, although that was not indicated on the CD. As a YA book, l'd recommend it to young girls as it is a strong story about taking your life into your own hands and accepting the difficulties and consequences of that course of action. It also drew one in to the reality of the lives of the very poor in the middle 19th century in the UK, particularly the limiting roles and hard choices for women of her standing. Pell is a brave young woman who won't let herself get trapped as her mother did. The consequences of her rebellion against that trapping are harsh but then so is the trap and seeing both sides of this is good for any young girl.
May 17, 2014
Meg Rosoff's books, in my experience, always seem to have a surreal sort of feel to them. The Bride's farewell was no exception. Told in a time not-quite-specified, beginning in a town called Nomasland and featuring characters that somehow, using the slightest amount of words, are full and real in your mind. In light, almost indifferent writing, the story of the main characters unfurls and comes to life.
I loved the way Pell was written. You didn't get the feeling that the author was trying to make her something, trying to make the reader think certain things about her, trying to make her perfect. She didn't feel like a tool to tell a story either, she just felt like... a person?
I think the word to describe this book would be charming. Slowly and unashamedly, in the space of 200 pages or so, it burrows it's way to your soul and entwines around your heart.
So, so good.
I loved the way Pell was written. You didn't get the feeling that the author was trying to make her something, trying to make the reader think certain things about her, trying to make her perfect. She didn't feel like a tool to tell a story either, she just felt like... a person?
I think the word to describe this book would be charming. Slowly and unashamedly, in the space of 200 pages or so, it burrows it's way to your soul and entwines around your heart.
So, so good.
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