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March 5, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

    The Jamestown Brides – The Bartered Wives of the New World

    Jennifer Potter
    Jennifer Potter and cover

    Venue:

    Shenfield Library, Hutton Road
    Shenfield, Brentwood, CM15 8NJ
    Tickets:
    £7
    £5 concessions (27 years and under)
    Book

    Box Office:

    Mercury Theatre
    01206 573948

    Update 20th February – we have just released more tickets for this event. Book now to avoid disappointment.

     

    This is the extraordinary story of the British women who made the perilous journey to Jamestown, Virginia, to become wives for tobacco planters in the New Colony. Based on original research, respected historian and author, Jennifer Potter reveals the lives of the Jamestown brides as never before.

    The Jamestown Brides book cover

     

    The Jamestown Brides

    In 1621, fifty-six English women crossed the Atlantic in response to the Virginia Company of London’s call for maids ‘young and uncorrupt’ to make wives for the planters of its new colony in Virginia.While the women travelled of their own accord, the company was in effect selling them at a profit for a bride price of 150 lbs of tobacco for each woman sold. The rewards would flow to investors in the near- bankrupt company. But what did the women want from the enterprise? Why did they agree to make the perilous crossing to a wild and dangerous land, where six out of seven European settlers died within their first few years? And what happened to them in the end?

    “Compelling… A real pleasure to read.” – BBC History Magazine

     

    Photo of Jennifer Potter © Sam Churchill

     

    Venue

    Shenfield Library
    Hutton Road
    Shenfield, Brentwood, CM15 8NJ
    + Google Map
    033301 32689

    Visit accessable.co.uk for all disability and access information about Shenfield Library.

    Hearing Loop: Essex Book Festival has a mobile Roger Pen hearing loop system, which needs to be booked by individuals in advance at least five days before the event. If you would like to use the Roger Pen email claire@essexbookfestival.org.uk