Elizabeth, Child Bride

You’re twelve years old and your father tells you that you’re to marry a local merchant to save the family farm and settle an outstanding debt. The merchant, many years your senior, has made his desires for you quite clear and out of desperation, your young father relents. This may sound like a work of fiction, but this is only the beginning of the story of author Colleen Pease MacLean’s great-grandmother, Elizabeth.

Housebound by the COVID-19 pandemic, MacLean began researching her family tree to share with her four children. What unraveled was a tale of desperation, abuse, and pain that haunted her entire family during the mid-nineteenth century in Maine, USA. Using her own father’s notes on Elizabeth, MacLean had more questions than answers and learned of the ongoing exploitation of some of our most vulnerable today.

For readers looking for a new family drama, Elizabeth, Child Bride details the sweeping nature of trauma and how one decision can affect an entire family. For lovers of historical biographies, this book provides an honest portrayal of the ramifications of women’s lack of rights and how children continue to be exploited and abused today and all over the world.