The Duke Buys a Bride

Sophie Jordan’s The Duke Buys a Bride begin with a scene so seemingly outlandish, this writer believed there was no basis for it in the historical record. Heroine Alyse Bell is taken to the square of her tiny village, and sold in a bride auction so that her much older husband can then marry another woman. However, a quick Google search will reveal that bride auctions were a legal and common practice for decades, affording lower class citizens with an alternative to the far more immoral action of divorce.