2020 Self-Publishing EBook Award Winner in Fiction
2020 Foreword Indies Book Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction
2020 Sarton Awards Winner in Historical Fiction
2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Winner in Historical Fiction
2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in African American (Fiction)
A captivating story of a strong African American woman who pursues her dreams.
-Kirkus Reviews
This historical drama about surviving racism and abuse will move any reader interested in African-American lives in the early 20th century.
-Booklife Review
Jennifer Smith Turner's Child Bride offers a rich and immersive evocation of life for a young black American woman in the mid-twentieth century. Her portrayals of both rural, segregated Louisiana and Boston, Massachusetts, are vivid, powerful, and striking in their historical accuracy. But it is protagonist Nell's journey as a woman seeking independence that makes this book stand out: her evolution from a child bride into a forceful and self-assured adult testifies to the incalculable value of a warm heart and an inquiring mind.
-Ursula DeYoung, Editor, Embark Literary Journal
. . . Readers will be transfixed by the racial and personal challenges the heroine, Nell Jones, encounters and transcends in the segregated 'Deep South' and the 'progressive' North . . .
-The Boule Journal, The Official Publication of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity
Child Bride, a first novel by Jennifer Smith Turner . . . takes us on a long, treacherous journey from the deepest reaches of the segregated South to . . . Boston, sometime in the middle of the last century . . . A self-described workaholic, she (Jennifer) also clearly qualifies as a renaissance woman . . . We're lucky to have her here.
-Martha's Vineyard Times
Nell, the narrator and heroine of Jennifer Smith Turner's new novel Child Bride, is a survivor in more ways than one . . . Nell's love of literature, which begins in her one-room Louisiana school, shines through in her narration and dialogue . . .
-Martha's Vineyard Gazette
A well-woven story rich in culture, family bonds and the uniquely powerful will of women.
-Darryl Ford Williams, Vice President for Content, WQED Multimedia
I love the ending! It made me so happy to picture Nell reading on the beaches of MV.
-Alexandra Pratt, Librarian, West Tisbury Library, Martha's Vineyard
What an engaging and powerful story. Turner's first-person approach, wonderful writing, and very real story combined to yield a readable story that showed the challenges and dreams of growing up Nell.
-Daryl Brewster, CEO, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)
Child Bride was a riveting read that captured my attention from beginning to the end. I loved the strong family connections and lessons. I cringed at the women getting married at such a young age. But I celebrated in the sisterhood that was highlighted when Nell arrived in Boston . . . the beauty shop and church . . . two places where women find refuge even today. I also appreciated the authenticity of how the church could shun you but ultimately rebound with forgiveness. This was truly a great novel, and I would eagerly read another book written by this author.
-Elicia Spearman, General Counsel, Quinnipiac University
Nell was my hero from page one. Filled with innate intelligence, but so young and naive when she married, you soon wondered which 'Nell' she would become. What a treat to accompany her on that journey!
-Paula Lyons, former national and local television consumer reporter and regular panelist on NPR's Says You
Jennifer Smith Turner's fine sense of detail gives this story valuable historical insight. . . . Turner's eye for small points carries through this compelling story of one woman's coming-of-age journey. A fine book for reading groups!
-Jane Arnold, Professor of English (retired), SUNY-Adirondack
. . . a wonderful and emotionally powerful novel rooted in an historical context . . . Child Bride is a page-turning delight I highly recommend.
-Harry Seymour, artist and Professor Emeritus at UMass, Amherst
