A Bride's Story starts out relaying the daily life experiences of Amir and Karluk, a newly wedded couple that live in a Turkic town in Central Asia, near the Caspian Sea. The time period is the late 19th century and Amir has just been "given" as a bride to the Eihon family who live in a rural town. Amir is from the Halgal clan, who are a semi-nomadic tribe. Amir and Karluk are unique in that Amir is much older than Karluk; at the time of their marriage, Amir is 20, while Karluk is 12. By the 6th volume, it's mentioned that Karluk will be 13 soon. The manga follows many of their daily interactions, from Amir learning what it's like to bake bread in the town amongst all the other women to Karluk acting as a guide for Mr. Smith, an English researcher who has been living with the Eihon family for some time. The addition of Mr. Smith was a very smart move by the author as there are various aspects of daily life that need more detailed explaining to be understood. Having Mr. Smith there, asking questions as to why the family does things a certain way helps the reader learn a lot about the culture of the clans. It never seems forced or awkward, it's really just a researcher asking simple questions that (mostly) Karluk and Amir try to explain. At some point, the storyline leaves Amir and Karluk and we follow Mr. Smith for a while as he travels away from the family. While following his travels we meet three other young brides: Talas, a young woman who has been married no less than 5 times but each one of her husbands has passed, and Laila and Leyli, two twins who are constantly worried about whether or not their father is looking for a good husband for them. While at first I was jaded because I wanted to know more about Amir and Karluk, it was nice to explore the stories of other brides and see how their experiences differed to that of Amir and Karluk.
