The Little Bride

Jewish Survival in Europe and the American West!

Minna Losk has experienced much suffering by the time she's 16 years old. Her mother abandoned her father and her, and her father lives a tortured life between forgetting and memories that affect Minna until she lives her entire life surviving loss. Things are not much better after her father dies and she is shipped off to relatives and then a family who present as haunting, dysfunctional, and even mentally ill people. Her job is to be a serving girl. But lest one judge too quickly, these are Jewish people who live through the late 1800s pogroms in Odessa and other Russian towns. Waiting to be brutally attacked day after day after day could stretch any one's sanity to the limit!

Then Minna has the opportunity to become an American bride to an unknown man South Dakota. The journey overseas to her new home is fraught with watching people die from seasickness and starvation, with additional violent scenes to scar even the toughest character. It turns out she is about to marry into a home where the first wife has also abandoned the family, finding the wild West far too much for her grand ideas of living in America. Max's two sons, Sam and Jacob, believe Minna can never understand their past life. Their relationship is odd as they are closer in age to Minna and Max is twice her age and a religious Jew whose family believed he was going to become a famous Rabbi someday!

Minna typifies the harsh brutal life of a farmer's wife meant to help eke out a living on unyielding land, with no money to put into bettering a farm that is really not a farm. Suddenly a relationship develops between Minna and one of the sons, and secrets begin to be revealed.

While the plot seems fairly straight and even simplistic or stereotypical, there is nothing of that because of the way in which Anna Solomon takes the reader into Minna's mind, spinning stark and literate reflections with a tortured reality that defies one's idea of how much can be endurable. The Little Bride is a highly literate, uniquely lyrical account about the Jewish immigrant experience in a harsh American frontier that respects no gender, culture, or class. Remarkable novel!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

odd little book

Historical fiction can help us find a new perspective on a slice of history. The Little Bride tries to do that with the settlement of the prarie but seems to be trying to combine Old World atrocities with New World hardships for Jews. The writing is stark and creates tension but is also unfulfilling. Our protagonist is at once a sympathetic character, even a victim, while also a cruel and teasing creature full of her own needs. Makes you think but it isn't what might have been expected. Not everyone will enjoy it and the hype is overblown. I read this hoping for an adult book I could recommend to good teenage readers. I don't think this fits the bill. Adult concerns exclusively.

Just didn't hold my interest.

Review by Sarah L.: The Little Bride is the emotional story of 16 year old Minna Losk who agrees to be a mail order bride to an unknown man in America. She endures hardship after hardship. Despite all the misery she encounters at such a young age, including her mother's desertion, her infant brother dying and her father's death along with her aunts kicking her out of her home afterward, she has dreams of a better life.

Minna has dreams and visions of a wonderful husband and a fancy home with servants but reality sets in when she finds instead a barren, desolate prairie land in South Dakota and a 40 year old man with 2 teenage sons whose first wife deserted them. Life is very rough for Minna. It is obvious she is unhappy and lonely. Instead of trying to strike up a conversation with Minna to get to know her, Max and the boys do all their talking after she has gone to bed.

The author has an interesting writing style which is at first I found confusing, distracting and a bit hard to decipher which led to me to go back and re-read paragraphs and pages. After about the first 60 pages however, I was able to adapt and followed along much more easily from that point on.

This story takes an emotional toll on a person. The author does a good job making the reader feel the range of emotions Minna experiences. Unfortunately she has a very rough life and it is a bit disheartening to read about. It is a well-written story and the author portrays Minna's life very well however I found it difficult to stay interested.

Very enjoyable!

The Litte Bride by Anna Solomon takes place in the late 1800s. The story begins in Odessa with the first glimpse of Minna. Minna is sixteen years old. She commits to a marriage that is arranged by an agency that fits wealthy, established Russian Jews with young brides. Although Minna is excited about her new life, she also has a lot of trepidation. However when she gets to America, Minna soon learns that things are not as she thought they would be.


Minna is the prominent character in this novel. Everything is told from her point of view. She is a well-written character with a range of emotions. She travels form Odessa to America in hard conditions. The only thing that really kept her hanging on is the new life promised to her in America. However Minna quickly discovers things are not as she thought. Her 'better life' is replaced by hardships and hard work. Not only that, her 'husband' is quite a bit older than she is and she's attracted to his oldest son who is closer to her age.


One of the things I love most about the novel is the detail that Anna Solomon puts into this novel. The way she describes everything from Minna's examination to the cold hard winters of North Dakota is phenomenal. She gave me a clear picture of what it must have been like during this time period. I think this really helps me understand the novel in a way I might not have before.


Overall I really like this novel. I was not familiar with this time period in history before I read this novel. I think Anna Solomon did a wonderful job showing the good and the bad. Her portrayal of the characters seems really realistic. This is a great book that is not only moving but also very insightful.

A powerful debut

Minna Losk is a sixteen-year-old girl who works as a maid-servant in the poverty of Odessa. After a hard beginning in work and in life, Minna learns she is to go to America as a mail-order bride. To do so, she must present herself for a full physical before leaving the country and heading to the "free" shores, and that one moment alone is enough to scare anyone to death. But Minna is determined to find a better life, as she gets on the boat and soon finds herself locked in a horrific journey across the sea Upon arrival, a sense of renewed faith appears in Minna's soul, and she is so thankful to finally be in the land that she has dreamed about for so long. Minna is so looking forward to a kind, loving husband, wealth, and a place to call home where she can be happy and raise her children. As with all things in life, Minna quickly finds that her husband, Max, is far older than she is, and didn't even have the decency to break away from work to pick her up and escort her to her new home. In fact, it is Max's younger brother who arrives - a handsome, truly lovely young man - who immediately tries to make Minna feel at home. Upon arriving at their destination in South Dakota, Minna finds a rigid Orthodox man who certainly doesn't seem to like Minna's Jewish heritage one bit; yet with her fair skin and blue eyes, she seems to pass his inspection. The house is one-room and is a complete mess. So much for the wealth. And the hard work that Minna must put in every day is more like the work required of a slave, not a wife. Add to that the desolate country and very rude townspeople, and Minna soon finds that all her dreams of America were completely false, and she is now stuck in a situation even worse than the one she left back home. The author does an outstanding job of showing every aspect of history, and how incredibly difficult and frightening it was to be a mail-order bride. Hearts will go out to Minna as they watch this young girl fall in love with another, and find the strength and power to keep her head above water in a world that is forcing her to drown. Quill Says: A powerful debut with a lovely romance, as well as a very real tale of poverty and dreams that turn into nightmares.

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