IVY'S INHERITANCE

IVY'S INHERITANCE
Friday, April 25, 2025 by LINDA SHENTON MATCHETT

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS / Reviews and Interviews

PLEASE WELCOME

LINDA SHENTON MATCHETT

FICTION FRIDAY

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Characters and their backstories

An important aspect of writing a book is including unique and interesting characters that readers can relate to. While researching another book, I unearthed the fact that a whopping twenty-five percent of the men who served in the Union army and navy were foreign-born. Wikipedia claims the percentage could be as high as thirty-three percent. The two largest nationalities represented were German and Irish, followed by British (English, Scottish, and Welsh), Canadian, Polish, French, Italian, and Scandinavian. A few came from China, Mexico, Hawaii, and some of the Native American tribes. About five percent of the Confederate army was foreign-born.

I tucked the information away until I had a book that would lend itself to such a character. Enter Ivy’s Inheritance. City born and bred in a mansion in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Ivy is a fish out of water on the Nebraska prairie. I decided her prospective groom should suffer the same ailment.

Slade Pendleton is from London, raised in a middle-class home with material provisions, but little affection. His father was absent much of the time, and his mother was busy with social engagements. When Slade announced he was going to America to fight for the Union in the Civil War, his father shook his hand and bade him well, a rather cold and distant reaction. After surviving the war, Slade decided to stay and take advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 and try his hand at ranching. He had a LOT to learn and made many mistakes, but eventually did well; however, even after fifteen years in the country, he is still often stumped by Americans and their ways, especially his friend Nathan Childs, who is gregarious and physically demonstrative with his affections.

To add tension, I gave Ivy Irish heritage. Her father was one of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who fled British rule and misery. He instilled a deep dislike of the British in his family, so she is horrified to discover that Slade is from England. Is her situation desperate enough to set aside her ingrained feelings?

Secondary characters must also be unique and well-rounded, and some of the more memorable ones in Ivy’s Inheritance are Nathan’s wife, Dinah, who has her own mail-order story, the doctor and his nurse-wife, the mercantile owner, and Slade’s housekeeper as well as Gareth Heisel, the man to whom Ivy’s father, a creepy, underhanded villain who will do whatever it takes to get his way, promised Ivy’s hand in marriage without her consent.

MORE ABOUT IVY’S INHERITANCE

Has she fled one untrustworthy man only to be stuck with another?

Ivy Cregg’s father is a gambler, but this time he’s gone too far. He loses his mining fortune and her along with it in a high-stakes poker game. Unwilling to go along with the deal, she hides out with a friend who tells her about Ms. Crenshaw, owner of the Westward Home & Hearts Mail-Order Bride Agency, who is in town. The prospective groom is a wealthy man who seems like an answer to prayer until Ivy discovers he made his fortune in mining. Is he as untrustworthy as her father?

After emigrating to America to fight for the Union during their Civil War, Slade Pendleton moved West while working on the railroad, then headed to the plains of Nebraska to seek his fortune. He was one of the lucky ones and now has everything he could ever want. Except for a wife. With the few women in the town already married, he sends for a mail-order bride. The woman arrives carrying the telegram that explains her need to flee, but now that she’s safe, she seems to have no interest in going through with the ceremony. Should he send her packing or try to convince her to stay?

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ABOUT LINDA SHENTON MATCHETT

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. She is a volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Linda was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now makes her home in central New Hampshire, where her favorite activities include exploring the outdoors and immersing herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

Social Media Links:

Website/Blog: http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Facebook Reader’s Page: www.facebook.com/groups/lindashentonmatchettsreadersgroup/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lindamatchett

MY REVIEW OF IVY’S INHERITANCE *****

I enjoy reading historical fiction. I immerse myself in the period of the story and sometimes even imagine myself observing the events. Ivy’s Inheritance did not disappoint. The author’s masterful description kept me a participant in the story. The reader can easily identify with Ivy’s predicament. Few options were open to young women, dependent upon the goodness of a father or a husband, even if provided a good education. Ivy’s choice was to submit to her father and marry a brutish man or run away. But run away to what? She had little time to orchestrate a sensible plan. Becoming a mail-order bride seemed her only hope. The arrangement gave the prospective bride and groom a thirty-day option to decide if they wanted to wed.

Slade, a gentleman and a man of integrity, understood Ivy’s reason to move across the country to become a rancher’s wife, though she had little comprehension of what that life would entail.

A good fiction writer keeps conflict on the page. Linda Shenton Matchett has done this artistically. Not only is Ivy mistrusting of men, but the man her father promised her to has put out a bounty on finding her and returning her to Pennsylvania. Slade feels protective and suggests they not wait to be married. Ivy must struggle between her mistrust, despite her growing attraction to Slade, and a very real threat of being whisked away into an intolerable life.

I recommended this book.

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