The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard chronicles the story of two sisters, Charlotte & Harriet, from the late 19th century England. At this time in history a woman had minimal rights. It was the duty of a young woman to marry well so her husband could support her. Harriet had done this. Charles was an up and coming politician in line to inherit his uncle's seat in Parliament. He had taken Charlotte in because their parents were dead, but it was now time for her to marry and they wanted her to marry George, one of Charles's colleagues. Things did not happen as planned, and Charlotte ended up on a ship headed to British Columbia with women from all stations in life sent to marry and bring British culture to western Canada.

The story is filled with perils of the trip, tragedies & triumphs, heart break, love lost and regained, and separation of the classes. It is the story of women who stood strong and made their own way. It brought to life a part of North American history I did not know.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. In the about the author section at the end of the book it says that it is the debut book by this author. I also like that this author is from my home country of Canada. I look forward to this author putting out more good books,for sure.

As I read this book, I vacillated between thinking it was it was quite good and being quite disappointed in it. It starts off with a lot of info dumps, because obviously it's super important to know all about the main characters' lives and what their parents' marriage was like. The main character is the common cliche of a woman with today's sensibilities living in the past. I thought for sure she would get a bee in her bonnet about settling the wilderness of Western Canada and decide to ship out, but the way she reached this decision was a lot more interesting that I had assumed, so I was impressed for a bit.

Then comes the time on the ship. The description I read of the book led me to believe that it's mostly set in Canada, but more than half of the book takes place before they ever land in the New World. A lot more took place on the ship than I thought truly necessary. I was always interested in finding out what British Columbia would hold and had to wait a long time for any answers. It's not until 63% that we finally reach our destination and get off the boat for good, making this far more of a book about a boat ride than about people settling the Canadian wilderness. There's nothing inherently wrong about a book taking place aboard ship, but I wish I had known from the beginning that the word "ship" in the title was going to be much more important than either "bride" or "wife." I constantly wished we would just arrive already so the story could actually get moving.

Once we do land, the story finally gets going, but some of the main character's choices made little sense to me. I can't put them here without risking spoilers, but she turns proposals down (isn't the whole point here to become a wife?) and whenever someone hits on her or appears to possibly be hitting on her, she thinks to herself how much she isn't interested, before she even remotely gets to know them. I'm all for being choosy but the ratio of men to women is insane in this time and place (one of the other brideship wives gets proposed to the moment she's off the ship) yet our main character goes on no dates nor has any romance at all once she reaches Canada. I was so lost in the last 40%. It was like the main character just wanted to get to Canada and she was never planning on marrying anyone there, even though that was supposed to be the whole reason behind the endeavor. It made no sense. Until the end, where a completely ridiculous thing happens that makes everything up until then make more sense from a writing perspective. Obviously the writer knew this super unlikely thing would happen, but how did the main character know? Color me confused.

I was very put off by the ending, but there were enough interesting things that happened throughout the book that I didn't regret reading it. I just really wish the synopsis/description had been more clear that it's much more about crossing the Atlantic than it is about settling Canada.

I like to thank Netgally foIr a advanced copy.

The Brideship Wife is a enjoyable heartwarming story of one woman's journey from England to British Columbia. I really enjoyed books that have great growth with the characters. Charlotte grew so much through this story I loved the woman she became. The social injustice that women dealt with during that time frame was very frustrating.

This was a easy enjoyable read. The history regarding the Brideship was very interesting I think it would open up many more stories .

This novel is based has been meticulously researched and has real people interspersed with fictional characters. The characters are well defined and believable. Charlotte is a gentlewoman who is left without a dowry with which to marry so she lives with her sister and her husband. They pick out George a member of parliament who tries to rape Charlotte. While Charlotte is able to get away she can’t tell anyone because George threatens her that he will say that she tried to seduce him. During the Victorian times the women had no rights or recourse. Charlotte is forced to leave England for British Columbia with a boatload of women needed to colonize the country. Harriette her sister is forced to go with her. Her husband wants to get rid of her because she has not given him an heir. The story is about their journey to British Columbia and all the people they meet. I don’t want to give away the plot. The story is about women in mid 19th century, their rights or lack there of, independence, survival, relationships, the treatment of the native people and love. It is a very good debut historical novel . Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via @netgalley for an honest review. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, I usually learn new things reading them. The Brideship Wife is based on the history of the British bride ships. Well researched and beautifully told, these women risked everything for freedom. *The map at the end of the book shows just how amazing these trips were- the ships sailed from England to the western coast of Canada (British Columbia) and since the Panama Canal hadn't been dug the journey was even longer having to sail around South America.

The concept of bride ships was a new one to me, so I found the premise interesting when I requested a copy from NetGalley and the publisher.

I found it to be an enjoyable and educational read. I was quite pleased to read the author notes at the end and find the topic matter deeply researched. The story was easy to read, beautiful and well-paced, in fact, I read it in two sittings. The politics of the day was well carried into the story, social expectations and norms were as well.
I think there could easily be a sequel to The Brideship Wife, and if there is, I'd gladly buy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.

Charlotte Harding needs to find a husband, she knows that, but she isn’t really all that crazy about the man that her brother-in-law Charles would like her to marry because it benefits him more than it does her. She would like to marry for love, but her older sister Harriet also wants her to make a good match.
This a well written and researched book about the Brideships bringing women from Victorian England hopeful for a new life in British Columbia’s (Canada) rugged landscape.

This was a good very read for me. It was highly engaging, and Charlotte Harding was an easy character to like and even admire her tenacity. She had a lot going for her, even though, seen through the lens of the social classes of England, she was just a penniless spinster. In British Columbia, she saw all the opportunities that were being given to her, and she didn’t hesitate to grab a hold of what she saw as an adventure.

It was wonderful to find out something new historically about the country I am proud to call home.

My gratitude to Simon and Schuster Canada and Net Galley for a copy of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

This beautiful historical novel evolves around a young British woman, whose parents have both passed away leaving her without a dowry and therefore not likely to be married. The higher class people during this era would not marry her as she had nothing to offer them. At this time marriage was seldom one of love, but mostly of need for money, land or prestige. After a traumatic event Charlotte and her married sister Harriet boarded one of the Bride Ships traveling to British Columbia, Canada to start a new life and find a husband. This book is well researched and is filled with many facts of the bride ships and of Canada’s history, some of these wonderful but many sad and horrendous. Throughout the book Charlotte shows the braveness and willpower to step away from the things that a woman of her class is expected to do and to start a new life for herself. There are many well thought out characters who bring their own stories to this book. I enjoy fiction centred around Canadian history and this is one of the better ones. A wonderful book that will enthral you with the facts and fiction both. A nice twist thrown in to add some mystery and just the right amount of romance to make this a book that many will enjoy. Thank you NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada for allowing me to read the advanced copy of this book.

I enjoyed The Brideship Wife. The grit of Charlotte was perfect and not so over-the-top that it was contrived. She faced adversity and pushed through; who starts over in a new country nearly penniless with a scandal behind her? Charlotte did.

There was just enough heartache and not so over-the-top that it was depressing. The death of Charlotte’s sister was especially moving.

The love story and its struggles were very well done and not so over-the-top as to be eye-rolling.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Brideship Wife. It was very interesting to learn about this subject matter, and I was compelled to research it further.

THE BRIDESHIP WIFE is one of those historical fiction books that instantly transports the reader to a different time and place, seamlessly, allowing the tale to unfold as pages turn ever more rapidly. I thought I’d just begin to read this book for half an hour... a few hours later I finished it and couldn’t remember deciding to read it in one sitting. How did I get so lost in its tale? Our protagonist, a spinster at 22 with no money to her name, is not that unusual a starting point for a tale. Nor is her predicament, a lack of family support. But her various solutions are intriguing, a brideship to the New World, in this case, Canada, and an interest in things other than ‘Society’ make this a fascinating tale. I really never put this book down once and could have kept on reading. Author Leslie Howard offers interesting details of her own that drew her to the place and period, as well as a bibliography for more info, if desired. I loved this book. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I cannot gush enough about this book!!! What an incredible read full of true life events and strong female characters!!! This book changes the way I look at British Columbia and Victoria and Vancouver!!!! I loved the strength of Charlotte and the grieved the loss of Harriet. This book painted such a vivid picture of the life of women before the suffragettes and the daily struggles that we take for granted. And to include the native history brought the whole book up a notch!!! A truly book read and a stunningly captivating debut novel.

This is a very well researched novel by a debut author, about a subject matter that I was unaware of: British women being shipped to British Columbia, Canada to be married off to men seeking wives. Many women actually volunteered to go to achieve new lives. High society couples were on the journey as well, to bring British ways and unite Canada into the British Empire. There was quite a mix on the journey. Having fallen from society through no fault of their own, sisters Charlotte, 21, and Harriett, 25, were forced onto a ship by Harriett's husband to avoid a "scandal" in 1862, The voyage went across the Atlantic, stopping in Bermuda, the Falkin Islands, San Francisco, and before docking in Victoria, B.C. And the storyline then follows the women as they meet their fates. This is a very compelling story and will benefit from some slight editing. The author writes a very informative afterward, not to be missed, and you will enjoy learners no a bit about her, too. Thank you, NetGalley, for my advanced reader copy. I would highly recommend and look forward to more from Leslie Howard in the future.

A sweeping epic of one lady's journey from the ballrooms of England to the wilds of Canada. Leslie Howard has done an amazing job of portraying the life of women in the Victorian period. Charlotte Harding is the younger sister to Harriet and is left penniless after the death of her father. She must rely upon the kindness of her sister and brother-in-law, Charles, to support her. When Charlotte hears of genteel ladies heading to Canada to become brides, circumstances prevail her to go along. Charles insists that Harriet accompany Charlotte on the journey. The story is quite vivid in the telling of the hardships that they encountered on their journey but the story is poignant and inspiring.

Deeply researched and lovingly told, Howard's soft, accessible style frames Charlotte's journey from high Victorian society to a voyage aboard an English "brideship" to begin life in a land equally treacherous and beautiful.


I enjoyed the balance of travails and triumphs, small moments of grace and the embrace of humanity. While never shying away from presenting the limited opportunities afforded women in the 19th Century (often worth more as bartering chips than human beings) Howard still provides readers with a warm, slow-burn romance and a salient treatise on hope and the human spirit.


A note that I am so excited that this publisher is making room for quality Canadian historical fiction. It serves us so well to find voices who open the doors to lesser known parts of our past.


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What attracted me to the book in the first place was its subject matter - I didn’t know that England had shipped women over to BC to be married and I thought it made for a compelling premise, and it does. However, I found most of the characters shallow and unlikeable, including the main character, Charlotte who, despite being 21, conducts and speak as if she were 40.

By focusing on a upper-class woman instead of on a woman of more modest means, I think the author lost a great opportunity to turn her good novel into a great one. Her upper-class characters are villainous to the point of caricature and the various scandals attached to them are rushed and overused. I’d much rather have read an entire novel focusing on Sarah, a secondary character who befriends Charlotte on the way over.

The language is a bit stilted at the beginning, but the flow gets better as the book progresses, but I expect that more editing should take care of that prior to publication.