Kit Mcbride Gets a Wife
McBride Family Book 1
Amy Barry
Berkley Pub
August 23rd, 2022
Kit Mcbride Gets a Wife by Amy Barry is a western historical novel taking place in the late 1880s. This first in the series is about family and community.
There are five brothers and a younger sister, Junebug. She is fed up with taking care of her older brothers and needs someone else to do her chores, cooking, cleaning, and mending. Figuring her older demanding brothers should have a wife, she places an ad for a mail order bride.
Maddy Mooney emigrated from Ireland working as a maid to a widow. After answering Junebug’s ad, the widow decides to take Maddy out west. But in route Maddy is suddenly abandoned and left to assume the widow’s name, position, and is assumed to be the one answering the ad. To make matters worse, Maddy twists her leg in a rabbit hole, forcing her to stay with the McBrides. Circumstances leave her stranded with them, taking on the identity of the widow. After Kit finds out about the ad, he mistakenly thinks Maddy is responding and wants to be his potential wife.
From there things get interesting as Kit is enamored with Maddy and she tries to convince herself she belongs. Each personality is distinct. Kit is a gentle man, a loner, who loves reading and poetry. Maddy is always second guessing herself with low self-esteem. Junebug is someone to reckon with, who wants to be her own person.
Anyone who wants to return to the western days, this is the book to read.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Amy Barry: I have written westerns before under another name, Tess LaSue. I am from South Australia which was settled at the exact same time as the American West with gold mining and cattle. This bi-cultural history is very similar. It appealed to me. These books have a cast of characters with a real sense of being in the Western world.
EC: Do you like westerns?
AB: “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” are kind of westerns. I love western books and old-time movies, especially Larry McMurtry who is the “Lonesome Dove” author.
EC: What about the girl, Junebug?
AB: Her name came out of nowhere. She has driven the series and tends to take over the book a bit. She has no filters. She is irresistible, optimistic, says things in the moment, stating what others wish they could say. Basically, a force of nature. Because she is from the frontier, she has very few social restrictions. All the brothers adore her. Junebug puts them through hell as they try to raise her. She is in her early teens.
EC: How about Maddy?
AB: Maddy is someone who had much bad luck in the world. She is the opposite of Junebug. This book has her learning what she wants and what she would choose given the chance. She is from Ireland, born poor, put into maid service at the age of thirteen, and never has been the star of her own story, yet wants to take center stage.
EC: How would you describe Kit McBride?
AB: He is just a sweet guy. He never takes advantage of anyone. Kit is a poet at heart, quite sensitive and quiet.
EC: What is the relationship like with Maddy and Kit?
AB: In a relationship he allows Maddy to have her own space. Morgan squashes people. Kit falls in love with Maddy at first sight, with a courtly air about it. Maddy feels she does not deserve Kit and must take a journey to recognize she can be loved and to fight for it when it is in danger. They fit well together and work well together.
EC: What are the roles of all the brothers?
AB: There are five of them. They solve their problems by wrestling them out. Morgan had to raise all the children when their parents died. He was the one to set up the town. Morgan is a total grump. Morgan likes to be in control and has a personality like Junebug.
EC: Are the towns important in the series?
AB: There are two towns, Blackfeet, Crow, and Bitteroot. These lands are steeped in ways of storying in the past, present, and future. It is a small town of McBrides. There are no proper roads, a creek runs through the middle of town, the houses are nested between trees. It is silver mining country. Hopefully, readers will see the town grow throughout the series. The books are about community and those who are willing to settle down in the middle of nowhere to start a new life.
EC: Next book?
AB: I would love to write a book for each of the siblings. Morgan’s book is out in May. His partner Pip is very strong, a fireworks kind of book. She is too loud, too strong, and too opinionated. It is a grumpy/sunshine book. It is titled, Marrying Off Morgan McBride.
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