title: Why She Married Him: A Novel
author:  Myriam Chapman 
description: <b>The Reporter </b><br />Chapman does an excellent job capturing the restrictions placed on the Schavranskis by their religion and class, particularly showing how they lean to live with the disappointments life offers. She also does an excellent job portraying the city around them, showing how geographical details can help determine one's social status.Where <i>Why She Married Him</i> worked was forcing me to imagine a time when the course of one's life was far more restricted than it is today, particularly for women. Although the novel is never strident about the lack of freedom most women faced, through Nina's story, one experiences those limitations. <i>Why She Married Him</i> serves as an excellent window into the past.
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  He pulled off the poultice and glared at her. “Who are you?”
  
  She blanched. “You don’t remember me?” The question held sardonic disbelief.
  “My name is Emily.” She leaned in, her gaze penetrating. Almost as if she were
  waiting for him to say something.
  
  Hazy bits of the past shifted together. Emily Barrow. My God. He hadn’t seen
  her in nearly ten years. “What are you doing here?”
  
  “I live here.” With an over-bright smile, she added, “Don’t you remember your
  wife?”
  
  Her revelation stunned him into silence. His wife? What was she talking about?
  He wasn’t married.
  
  “You must be joking.” Stephen wasn’t an impulsive man. He planned every moment
  of every day. Getting married to a woman he hadn’t seen in years wasn’t at all
  something he would do.
  
  She crossed her arms over her chest, drawing his gaze toward her silhouette.
  The soft curve of her breasts caught his eye. The top button of her gown had
  come loose, revealing a forbidden glimpse of skin. The fallen strand of 