First Published in 1921, this Francis Brett Young novel can still be bought in paperback off Amazon, one of a few FBY novels that House of stratus re-published a few years ago.There is something quite definitely Hardyesque about the character of Gabrielle, a wild and beautiful girl who marries a much older man at the behest of her father. I enjoyed FBY's writing, the landscape always seems to raise up off the pages and surround the reader. This time though instead of the Brett Young's familiar landscape of the Midlands we have the first part of the book set in rural Ireland. Later we move to Devon, a place Brett Young lived and worked for a time and so knew well, and yet for me the most evocotive section of the book was that set in Ireland. Gabrielle is not a happy character, her life not an easy one, but I found her very likeable although rather passive at times. There is, though, I thought a clever little twist at the end - something to get the reader wondering. The Tragic Bride is much shorter novel than many FBY novel's, but Brett Young was a gifted story teller, and this was a very good story and well written. ( )