
A gritty, first‑person memoir follows a restless wanderer whose relentless pursuit of marriage lands him in a series of chaotic unions and legal entanglements. From his early, disastrous marriage that ends in a forged‑document scandal, he soon finds himself arrested for bigamy and thrust into the harsh world of a nineteenth‑century prison, where he learns trades like shoe‑making and even earns the warden’s reluctant respect.
The narrative then shifts to a series of frantic courtships and escape attempts, chronicling secret elopements, violent confrontations, and fleeting moments of freedom spent fishing on remote lakes. As each new wife brings fresh hope—and fresh trouble—the narrator’s relentless ambition drives him from town to town, always skirting the law and courting disaster. This candid, episodic account offers a raw glimpse into a life lived on the edge of society’s moral and legal boundaries.
Full title
Seven Wives and Seven Prisons Or, Experiences in the Life of a Matrimonial Monomaniac. A True Story
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (222K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Charles Aldarondo, and David Widger
Release date
2003-11-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
b. 1813
Best known for the wildly titled memoir Seven Wives and Seven Prisons, this 19th-century writer left behind a strange, candid account of marriage, trouble, and survival. Little is firmly documented about the person behind the name, which only adds to the book’s curiosity.
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