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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bargain At Any Price, April 30 2002
Alexandra Warren left England as a young bride, eager to experience the adventures of a military wife whose husband was stationed in Australia -- that far-off continent Alex thought to be a grand and romantic place. More than a decade later, she sets sail for her homeland as a widow and a mother of an eight-year old daughter, her perspective tainted by the reality of living in Australia and of losing her husband to a shockingly aggressive fever. Although theirs was not a perfect marriage, Alex still grieves for the loss of companionship.Her daughter, Katie, is a godsend in that respect. Every mother's nightmare is about to come true, however, when the ship they are traveling on is attacked by pirates off the coast of Maduri. A bitterly short battle ensues; while Alex and her daughter wait in their cabin below, the crew of the Amstel abandons ship, leaving the lone female occupants to their grim fate with a cowardly lack of conscience. Slavery is a fact of life on this island in the East Indies. After a desperate struggle, mother and daughter are separated and sold on Maduri, their disparate fates a cruel blessing. Six months later, an American sea captain weighs anchor in Maduri Harbor. Gavin Elliott has cargo onboard his ship for Sultan Kasan, ruler of this deceptively beautiful island. Kasan has plans for Gavin and his shipping company, Elliott House, a partnership of sorts the Sultan would like to form with it. A tour of the island is meant to persuade Gavin to accept the Sultan's lucrative proposition. Instead, Gavin stumbles upon a slave market where a distinctly European woman is being auctioned off. Appalled, he offers to buy the woman, only to grant the Sultan leverage in a dangerous game where more than one life is at stake. Honor demands that Gavin stay in Maduri and obtain Alexandra's freedom, whatever the cost. The price of a woman's freedom is high indeed, however. Is Gavin willing to risk his own freedom to release Alex from her damnable fate, to help erase the haunted look from her shimmering, aqua eyes? It's miraculous she has endured life as a slave for as long as she has. Clearly, Gavin must barter with the devil -- and dance to his merry tune -- before Alex's fate can be settled and her daughter found. If they need to scour the world, so be it! Emotionally fragile Alex has endured hell on earth while in captivity. Her emotional and mental scars run deep, so deep in fact that the thought of intimacy terrifies her. Mary Jo Putney executes these emotional highs and lows with achingly accurate precision. A reader shares Alex's sense of defilement and desperation, and celebrates her indomitable will and ability to endure what could easily shatter a person's soul. Needless to say, Ms. Putney's characterizations are riveting and multi-layered. Her prose is equally textured, and her plot is daringly different. A reader risks emotional devastation along with the heroine, however. THE BARTERED BRIDE is brutally intense on so many levels; it's difficult to remain unaffected by it. For instance, Gavin and Alex's first physical encounter is devastating and controversial. I've purposefully refrained from revealing more as Ms. Putney has made an obvious choice to shock and disturb her readers, to make an emotional investment in this novel impossible to avoid. Gavin's heroic behaviour is tainted somewhat by the necessity of this act. However, time heals all wounds. Alex is gradually able to overcome her past, to forgive the actions initiated by Sultan Kasan and Gavin's part in fulfilling them. Like a bad memory, the encounter slowly fades from a reader's mind, and a beautifully unfolding love story takes its place. Both Alex and Gavin are amazingly resilient, complex characters. They marry to stave off a possible scandal upon Alex's return to England, and Gavin's as well. No common marriage, this. A widower himself, Gavin is reluctant to settle for a lukewarm commitment from his wife. He's remarkably patient with Alex, though: a noble man through and through. THE BARTERED BRIDE is filled to brimming with such noble and richly detailed characters. Exotic locales, meticulous research and a haunting humanity complete this novel. Alex and Gavin have more monsters yet to face, but their bond is one that adversity can only strengthen, not destroy. Ms. Putney is an author of daring, fortitude and fearlessness. THE BARTERED BRIDE is a bargain at any price. It's an evocative and alluring love story that grief and sorrow only sharpen into stunning relief.
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