Agnes Sligh Turnbull wrote many romances. We are fortunate to have a few on the Bard site. Originally from New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, Agnes spent much of her later life in New Jersey. Her novels of love are about love that comes out right in the end and a joy to read. Gentle and touching, she has all but disappeared from the minds and memories of many. For those of us who enjoy romances written forty or more years ago, we cherish with great fondness novels like Turnbull’s The Wedding Bargain, the choice for our upcoming romance discussion.

Have you ever thought what a marriage of convenience would be like. Imagine further a marriage of the same type proposed to you and yourself already in love with the man or woman asking for your hand in marriage. Why would someone want a marriage like this? Why would they choose you? What if the liking or respect they feel for you never turns in to a love that matches yours? If it never happens, how will you go on knowing you alone are the one in love.

In novels featuring a marriage of convenience as almost a character itself, the fun is in how all of this works out eventually. We know it will. Marriage is always about romance. In this kind, more than in any other, we get to know the characters and fall in love along with them as they learn they love each other. That is their magic.

For Eliza Hanford, heroine of Agnes Sligh Turnbull’s The Wedding Bargain, there is trouble ahead. Married to wealthy coal magnate Daniel Morgan, she wants to be his wife on any terms. How will they handle the accusation of murder Morgan faces? Will this bring them closer or feed her doubts? Did he do it? Is he the man of her dreams or a man she barely knows? What would you do in the same circumstance? Dan and Eliza must ponder these and other painful questions before all is set right. In a marriage of convenience, there is very little that is really so convenient apart from the wealth that is often a part of such a match.

Why read a novel in which love prevails in the end? Why read a book when you know the ending will be a happy one? Sometimes, it is lovely to know that though a rough road lies immediately ahead of you, there will be joy and ecstasy when all is revealed. Maybe life between two who make it through difficulties on the page may encourage and give hope to real people struggling with problems in life and romance. It is satisfying and heart warming to know love has a happy ending and a new beginning for those who choose love and commitment for always.

Join us for our next romance discussion of a book by one of my favorite romance authors. Agnes Sligh Turnbull has been gone since 1982, but she has left a rich legacy for us. Like the Richlands and The Gown of Glory, The Wedding Bargain will captivate and enchant. All stand alone novels, the three I’ve mentioned are all available from the Bard site. A fourth, The Bishop’s Mantle is the only novel by Turnbull on bookshare.org. I mention them all for those who want to read even more after completing The Wedding Bargain. You are in for a very special treat. Turnbull never disappoints and writes with great poignancy about love that satisfies. Below is information about The Wedding Bargain from the Bard site and information about attending this discussion.
The Wedding Bargain
Turnbull, Agnes Sligh. Read by Mitzi Friedlander. Reading time 10 hours 29 minutes.
Romance
Thirty-year-old secretary Eliza Hanford's boss, New York coal magnate Daniel Morgan, proposes to her a marriage of convenience. Liza agrees, and the arrangement is a success until Dan is wrongly accused of murder. As the criminal trial progresses, Dan and Eliza realize how much they truly love each other. 1966.
Download The Wedding Bargain, DB64633

Bonnie Blose, Group Facilitator
E-Mail: bookmaven1@frontier.com