The Bride's Farewell

June 15, 2009
Pell Ridley is the adventurous heroine in this serviceably told tale, the fourth novel for London-based Rosoff, who has written successfully for the YA market. On her wedding day, Pell leaves town on her faithful horse, Jack, grudgingly bringing along her mute younger brother, Bean. Pell shirks expectations and jilts her childhood beau, Birdie, with an oddly modern defiance of 1850s England convention. No matter that Birdie seems a nice enough man, unlike her abusive preacher father—Pell is stubborn in her desire to flee the domestic life in Nomansland that mires her mother in a sea of children and overwork. Pell arrives at the Salisbury horse fair and her adventures begin. She is separated from Bean and her horse but meets a poacher she dubs Dogman (he travels with a pack of dogs) and together they wander the countryside living on bread crusts and flickering hope. Pell's love and knowledge of horses factors largely in her fight for survival, but it's human love—romantic and familial—that drives plucky Pell and leads us to this simple but satisfying story's happy if unsurprising conclusion.

Susan Duerden's soft tones contrast with a harsh world that abounds with poverty and insensitivity to the hard luck of women and needy children. Sometime in the 1850s in rural England, Pell Ridley flees from home on the morning of her wedding. As she looks for a place to belong, Duerden articulates Pell's desire for a better life as well as her appreciation of the grace of horses, the loyalty of dogs, and the sweetness of the younger siblings she cares for. Duerden gives her character an outer toughness that measures her courage and determination as she encounters a myriad of rough, uncaring characters, who are also believably depicted. Overall, Duerden's narration successfully balances the difficult circumstances of Pell's life with evocative descriptions of the story's setting and believable portrayals of the kinder souls who cross her path. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine