The Marriage Bed

After losing his beloved wife and children to diphtheria, farmer Spencer Williamson finally agrees to marry again, but he refuses to let himself love another woman or produce another child. He figures that Olivia, his naive new bride, will never know that he doesn't complete the sex act. Three years later, Olivia, still childless, brings her deceased sister's three abused children into her and Spencer's home to raise. When a visit to the doctor earns her a hint, if not the whole truth, of the cause of her ""infertility,"" she angrily leaves Spencer. With Olivia and the children gone, Spencer soon learns how much he's lost and begins a campaign to win his family back. Mittman dishes up generous helpings of humor and charm in this poignant tale set in 19th-century Wisconsin, but it is burdened with repetitious narrative in the second half. (May)