A Bride's Story

A Bride's Story (乙嫁語り) is a Japanese historical romance manga series written and illustrated by Kaoru Mori. It was first serialized in Enterbrain's Harta (formerly known as Fellows!) magazine from October 2008 to November 2020, after which it transferred to Kadokawa's Aokishi magazine in June 2021. Its serial chapters have been collected into fourteen bound volumes as of October 2022. Yen Press licensed the series for an English-language release in North America.

A Bride's Story won the Prix Intergénérations ("Intergenerational Award") at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2012, as well as the 7th Manga Taishō Award in 2014.

Synopsis
Set in a rural town near the Caspian Sea during the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the late 19th century, A Bride's Story revolves around a young woman, Amir, who travels from a distant village across the mountains to marry Karluk, a young man eight years her junior. The series follows their relationship as it develops, while introducing storylines about other young women and their daily lives with their respective fiancés and husbands along the Silk Road, and their struggle to keep on their livinghood amidst the advance of the Russian Empire's army.

Eihon family
The Eihon family descended from nomads, but have lived in a village for several generations. The family is largely patrilocal, but Yusuf, a son-in-law, married into the family.


 * Amir Halgal (アミル・ハルガル)
 * A twenty-year-old woman and Karluk's bride. She stems from a different (semi-nomadic) tribe. She is skilled in archery, horse-riding, and hunting. A free-spirited, adventurous woman, she is more open and outgoing in her day-to-day activities compared with the rest of the women in the family, who are noticeably more reserved. Despite the noticeable age gap between her and Karluk, she genuinely loves him. Unknown to Amir, some of the men she encounters look down on her because she is considered old for a new bride, and long past the traditional age when women in the society have started having children.


 * Karluk Eihon (カルルク・エイホン)
 * Amir's twelve-year-old husband. He is the youngest son of Akunbek and Sanira. He works very hard to be a good traditional husband to Amir, but because of his young age, he struggles to form a closer relationship with her. Karluk is considered an oddity in that he is younger than his bride; traditionally the bride is usually many years younger than the groom. Some men treat Karluk with pity since they fear that his wife will be too old when he is mature enough to have children with her.


 * Mahatbek (マハトベク)
 * Karluk's grandfather.


 * Balkirsh (バルキルシュ)
 * Karluk's grandmother who hails from the same clan as Amir and was at least acquainted with Amir's father prior to her marriage to Mahatbek. Naturally, she is very protective of Amir. Like Amir, she is a skillful archer and rider and remains a fearsome individual despite her advanced age. She is nonetheless a loving matriarch who practices her own brand of tough love. As a firm believer in the importance of needlework, she guides both Pariya and Tileke in realising both the necessity of the skill and the matriarchal history that is passed down through it.


 * Akunbek (アクンベク)
 * Karluk's father. Serves as one of the village elders due to his wealth and status. While he is a traditional man, he is also very understanding and very supportive of Karluk and Amir's marriage.


 * Sanira (サニラ)
 * Karluk's mother.


 * Seleke (セイレケ)
 * Yusuf's wife and Karluk's elder sister. She is often surprised by Amir's carefree and spontaneous personality. She patiently explains to Amir when their tribal customs differ. Her three sons often exasperate her with their rowdiness, but she loves them all the same.


 * Yusuf (ユスフ)
 * Karluk's brother-in-law. Seleke's husband. He lives with his wife's family and is a loving yet reasonable father.


 * Tileke (ティレケ)
 * Daughter of Seleke and Yusuf, and Karluk's niece. As the elder sister of three rowdy brothers, she is more assertive and bossy around them. She loves falcons and is very talented at embroidering.


 * Torkcan (トルカン), Chalg (チャルグ), and Rostem (ロステム)
 * The eldest, middle, and youngest sons of Seleke and Yusuf, respectively, and Karluk's nephews. The trio are playful and rambunctious. Though not malicious, Torkcan and Chalg can go overboard in teasing Rostem, causing him to cry and prompting Yusuf to step in.


 * Henry Smith (ヘンリー・スミス)
 * An English traveler and researcher who lives with the Eihon family. He has been researching the customs, language, and culture of the tribes and peoples. He later leaves the town to visit his friend in Ankara and acquire a camera so that he can record the cultures and people he comes across.


 * Nikolovsky (ニコロフスキー)
 * An Ukrainian companion of Henry Smith and a veteran of the Crimean War of the Imperial Russian Army. Like Henry, Nikolovsky also develops fascination on Central Asian culture and later assists the tribes to escape from ongoing Russian onslaughts.

Residents of the town

 * Pariya (パリヤ)
 * A young woman who is introduced in chapter 6; attracted to Amir's free-spirited nature, the two become good friends. Pariya has always struggled to be a traditional woman in the society, but her habit of speaking her mind regardless of situation creates a lot of uncomfortable situations. As a result, she tends to become anxious in social situations, which results in embarrassing outbursts. She is very good at baking and skilled at creating extremely elaborate designs in her bread, which she teaches to Amir. Her father is Togo, a potter, who feels rather resigned at trying to find a suitable husband for his daughter because her outspoken nature tends to scare off potential suitors. This changes when she is betrothed to Umar, much to her joy, but she becomes anxious trying to act more mature and reliable in order to please him, which sometimes leads to unexpected results.
 * Pariya also appears in a short-comic spin-off of the series called "Pariya-san wa Otoshigoro".


 * Chagap (チャガップ)
 * An old man who raises sheep, and told of wolves living around Soma Lake. Introduced in chapter 1.


 * Kamola (カモーラ)
 * A lovely young woman in the village who is well-regarded because she is skillful at domestic tasks and is well-mannered and good-natured. She is known to have many suitors. Pariya aspires to more like her as she perceives Kamola to be an ideal young woman and tries to discreetly to observe her. When Kamola believes that she has inadvertently angered Pariya due to Pariya's behavior, Pariya admits that she actually looks up to Kamola, who in turn confesses that she admires Pariya's ability to speak her mind. Through Amira's encouragement, Pariya and Kamola become friends.

Halgal family
The family Amira was born into. They are nomadic during the summer. Introduced in chapter 4.
 * Azel (アゼル)
 * Amir's eldest brother, a serious and stoic man. He is a respectful individual who addresses Balkirsh as an "esteemed mother" and Karluk as an "honoured brother". He is not present during Amir's wedding, a conspicuous absence that Amira's father-in-law brings up. He struggles between loyalty to his clan and affection for his sister. Though he does not openly oppose his clan's orders, he has expressed frustration over the decisions of his elders. Although he goes along with the attack on Amir's village, he is quick to defend the villagers the moment his clan is betrayed by the Batans. Initially mistaken for an enemy, he is saved by the village women's intercession. He becomes the leader of the Halgal clan after his father's death in the battle against Amir's village.


 * Joruk (ジョルク)
 * A maternal cousin of Amir and Azel. His clothing differs from Azel and Baimat's because he is a maternal, not paternal, relative. His deadpan sense of humour and preoccupation with food make him appear more flippant than he is. He disagrees with the clan elders on many matters but does not bother voicing his sentiments because he understands it is futile. This does not stop him from trying to convince Azel to persuade Azel's father, the clan leader, from abandoning the idea to marry Amir to the Numaji as he knows that the Numaji are physically, often fatally, violent to their women. He wants to marry, but understands that the current state of his clan makes it difficult to attract any brides.


 * Baimat (バイマト)
 * A paternal cousin of Amir and Azel. Unlike Joruk, Baimat is reserved, stoic, and dependable. He has a stricter sense of morality compared to Joruk and calls the latter out for filching some apricots from a tree in Amira's village. However, like Azel and Joruk, he privately disagrees with the clan elders. He is shown to be a perceptive and encouraging individual, correctly assessing Karluk's feelings towards hunting and Amir, while cheering him up after he makes mistakes while learning to hunt.


 * Aterui (アテルイ)
 * One of Amir and Azel's younger sisters. Amir describes her as lively and healthy, recalling that Aterui had never been sick. Her death after marrying the Numaji comes as a sudden shock to Amir, but Joruk reveals that she was beaten to death, presumably by her husband. Joruk elaborates that the beating was so severe that her bones shattered, while the matriarch Balkirsh confirms that the Numaji are a violent, barbaric bunch.


 * Karahiga (カラヒガ)
 * Another one of Amir, Aterui, and Azel's younger sisters. Like Aterui, she dies shortly after marrying the Numaji. She is heavily implied to have been a victim of domestic abuse. Her death shocks Amir, as she was alive prior to Amir's marriage. Aterui and Karahiga both die within a year of Amir's wedding.


 * Berkhrat (ベルクラット)
 * Amir and Azel's father, the chief of the Halgal clan. Faced with losses due to sickness and dwindling pasture lands, Berkhrat orders Azel to bring Amir back to the clan to maintain an alliance through marriage to the wealthier  Numaji.  When initial attempts to retrieve Amir fail, Berkhrat and the Halgal elders decide to retaliate against the town dwellers by allying with the Batan clan. Having colluded with Russians, the Batan betray the Halgals during the battle, resulting in further losses to the Halgal clan.  Berkhrat is heavily wounded but survives the battle, determined to seek revenge on everyone, but is discreetly shot and killed by Balkirsh.  He is succeeded by Azel as clan chief.

Jandiq clan
A nomadic clan of the steppe, who agree to join an alliance of steppe clans and town dwellers against the Russian encroachment. They are introduced in chapter 96.


 * Jahan (ジャハン)
 * The chief of the Jandiq (ジャンディク) clan, who agrees bind his clan to the Halgal family through marriage as part of the nomadic clans' alliance. He treasures his daughters and will not marry them off for his convenience, respecting that the women of the steppe will not acknowledge men they deem weak.  Before agreeing to any engagement, Jahan challenges the Halgal men prove their worthiness by winning a horse race against their prospective brides.


 * Jahan Bique (ジャハン・ビケ)
 * The daughter of Jahan, a fierce and courageous young woman who will not yield to a man she deems weak. She proves to be exemplary at archery, sword play, and horse-riding, and rides an exceptional mount - a rare golden horse from the Teke clan that she has named Kalkashka.  Azel manages to win the horse race only after pulling her off her horse and she concedes to his victory.  Bique is chosen by Azel as his bride because of her strength and valour.


 * Ryazat (リャザット)
 * A young woman of the Jandiq clan who takes a fancy to Joruk during the horse race and suggests that she's willing to lose to him to marry him. She reneges on their deal to lose after Bique destroys all but one of the arrows required to win the race, but still decides to marry Joruk after Azel wins the race.


 * Aigul (アイグル)
 * A young woman from the Jandiq clan, she attracts Baimat's attention during the horse race because she conceals her face. She was brought back to the Jandiq after divorcing a husband who had been too violent with her; her face was badly scarred after her first husband threw boiling stew on her.  Jahan only agrees to allow Baimat to select Aigul as a bride after Baimat vows never to be violent to her.

Other characters

 * Numaji (ヌマジ)
 * A clan notorious for their wealth and brutality.


 * Talas (タラス)
 * A young nomadic woman living with her mother-in-law. Introduced in chapter 12. Married into her current family at age sixteen, but in a few years became a widow of all its five sons as per tradition, which dictates that a widow with no children marries one of her husband's brothers. Since her father-in-law also died, she helps and keeps company to her mother-in-law instead of going back to her own family. She becomes romantically involved with Mr. Smith, and eventually follows him to Ankara.


 * Talas's mother-in-law (タラスの義母)
 * An old nomadic woman. She wishes for Talas to have a future with a loving husband and won't accept any marriage offers that would make her daughter-in-law unhappy, including the one from her uncle. She tries to convince Smith to marry Talas, but fails. Later marries Talas's uncle in order to secure a good match for her.


 * Talas's uncle (タラスの叔父)
 * The brother of Talas's father-in-law. A wealthy, aggressive man that wants Talas to be a second wife for his son. He reports Smith to the town's authorities which leads to Smith's arrest and later marries Talas's mother-in-law.


 * Ali (アリ)
 * Smith's guide to Ankara. Introduced in chapter 15. He is associated with the local military, and unabashedly greedy and resourceful, taking advantage of a situation as he sees fit. He is unmarried, but expresses interest in finding a wife when he feels he has obtained sufficient financial stability.


 * Laila and Leyli (ライラとレイリ)
 * Twin sisters from a thriving fishing village who are of marriageable age. They are very mischievous and are always together, sharing the same ideas about nearly everything. When Mr. Smith and Ali arrive in their village, Laila and Leyli have been causing trouble trying to find wealthy grooms for themselves who will also bend to their will. Their father later marries the two sisters to the first and second sons of one of his friends.


 * Laila and Leyli's family (ライラとレイリの家)
 * Laila and Leyli's father is a fisherman who is strict with his children. He allows Mr. Smith to remain at his house believing he is a doctor. Though he wants to find good husbands for his daughters, he is reluctant to do so because he worries about the expense of dowries for both of them. The twins' mother, Minah (ミナー), is also very strict with them, often having little patience for their antics and not hesitating to resort to severe methods to ensure they will be good wives someday. However, she cares for them deeply and it is implied she was very much like her daughters when she was young. The girls' family also includes several younger siblings, their maternal aunt, their grandfather, and their grandmother, who proves to be very adept at tricking the twins into doing household tasks.


 * Sarmaan and Farsami (サマーンとファルサーミ)
 * Sarmaan and Farsami are the eldest and second sons, respectively, of a fisherman, and both happen to be fishermen themselves. Their father is an old friend of Laila and Leyli's father and the brothers are childhood friends of the twins. When their father suggests that the twins marry the brothers, they are mostly indifferent and admit to have been expected it. When their fathers are too caught up with arguing about dowries, the brothers are arbitrarily matched to the twins so they will get to know each other better. Both brothers express a mature attitude towards marriage, and with both pairs satisfied with the matches, Sarm is paired with Laila, and Sami with Leyli.


 * Anis (アニス)
 * The young wife of a wealthy and kindhearted man living in Persia. She is the mother of a young son, Hasan. Smith and Ali are briefly guests in the home of Anis' husband, though Smith never sees Anis herself. Though Anis has everything she could have, she is isolated and lonely until her maid Maarfe encourages her to join her at the public baths. Anis forms an immediate connection with Sherine, with whom she hopes to form a bond of sisterhood with.


 * Sherine (シーリーン)
 * A taciturn woman married to a poor man and the mother of a son a little older than Hasan. Sherine becomes fond of Anis, finding her endearing. Shortly after she and Anis commit themselves as sisters, Sherine's husband dies because of an illness. Anis persuades her husband to take Sherine on as a second wife and her family joins the household.


 * Umar (ウマル)
 * Pariya's suitor, a young man close to her age whose father raises sheep and runs a traveler's inn. A thoughtful and observant youth, he is skillful at a number of tasks, including calculating figures on an abacus. His father has been searching for a suitable bride for his son for some time and took notice of Pariya when she accompanied the Eihons to find Mr. Smith during his brief engagement to Talas. In contrast to Pariya's other suitors, Umar seems to like Pariya's outspokenness, though she is constantly flustered around him and becomes even more conscientious of her lack of gentle qualities, and Umar's father considers her liveliness to be a positive trait. When her town is severely damaged by the attack from the Halgals, Pariya and Umar's engagement is delayed.


 * Mr. Hawking (ホーキング博士)
 * Henry Smith's old friend who works in the British intelligence in India. Henry Smith was sent to Central Asia by his order to provide access about the possible Russian threat to India during the Great Game. He is the one who provides Smith a camera to record life in Central Asia when Smith goes to the Ottoman Empire to visit Hawking's personal residence in Ankara.

Publication
A Bride's Story is written and illustrated by Kaoru Mori. It was first serialized in Enterbrain's seinen manga magazine Harta (formerly known as Fellows!) from 14 October 2008 to 13 November 2020. It transferred to Kadokawa's manga magazine Aokishi on 18 June 2021. The series' chapters have been collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes by Kadokawa as of 20 October 2022. The first nine volumes were published under Enterbrain's Beam Comix imprint; subsequent volumes have been published under Kadokawa's Harta Comix imprint. In addition to the tankōbon release, a wide-ban collector's edition of the manga has been issued by Kadokawa since 20 August 2021. The wide-ban features large pages, high-quality paper, fold-out color illustrations, and special boxes to store each volume in. A Bride's Story is also available in digital e-book format in Japan.

Yen Press licensed the series for an English-language release in North America. The first volume was published on 31 May 2011; the fourteenth and most recent volume was published on 19 September 2023 The series received a digital release starting on 25 September 2018.

A Bride's Story is also licensed for regional language releases by Ki-oon in France, Tokyopop Germany in Germany, J-Pop Manga in Italy, Norma Editorial in Spain, Studio JG in Poland, Punainen jättiläinen in Finland, Level Comics in Indonesia, Daewon C.I. in Korea, Kadokawa Taiwan in Taiwan, Siam Inter Comics in Thailand, and IPM in Vietnam.

Reception
A Bride's Story won the Manga Taishō Award in 2014. It was previously nominated for the award in 2011 and 2013. The series also won the Prix Intergénérations ("Intergenerational Award") at France's Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2012. It was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2012 and 2016. The American Library Association's YALSA division included the first volume on its list of Great Graphic Novels For Teens in 2012.