I received this book through netgalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review. I loved this book. I have always loved reading about mail order brides, of which Mercer Girls were similar. A man by the name of Mercer wanted to improve the city so he decided he was going to find brides for these men who were drinking and fighting and gambling, because there were no women to marry and have family's with, so he was going to bring back 200 brides. He found the women through paper ads and they had to have money, quite a lot for that time in history, to pay for their fare by boat to get to where they were going. The ladies who for each had a reason they wanted to leave Lowell, Mass., found that the problems they left, did find they where they were going. Having a famous suffragette come to town was pretty much the salvation of them! I loved reading this and finding that quite a bit was based on real history. A fun read you can't put it down!
It’s 1864 in downtrodden Lowell, Massachusetts. The Civil War has taken its toll on the town—leaving the economy in ruin and its women in dire straits. That is, until Asa Mercer arrives on a peculiar, but providential, errand: he seeks high-minded women who can exert an elevating influence in Seattle, where there are ten men for every woman. Mail-order brides, yes, but of a certain caliber.
Schoolmarmish Josephine, tough-as-nails Dovey, and pious perfectionist Sophronia see their chance to exchange their bleak prospects for new lives. But the very troubles that sent them running from Lowell follow them to the muddy streets of Seattle, and the friendships forged on the cross-country trek are tested at every turn.
Just when the journey seems to lead only to ruin, an encounter with a famous suffragist could be their salvation. But to survive both an untamed new landscape and their pasts, they’ll need all their strength—and one another.
