On April 16, 1891, in the Anglican Cathedral of Cape Town, a young couple exchanges vows. The bride is only 21 years old, and has arrived in South Africa only a few days before after a long journey on the sea. It is the end of a long wait for her. Her history with her beloved Arthur Tolkien, a man 13 years her senior, has not been trouble-free.
There were objections from her family, not to mention the thousands of miles that separate the city of Birmingham, in the English Midlands, from the exotic country where Arthur had recently immigrated to, with the hope of a better job. But the wait was over, and for Mabel Suffield life now blossomed with the promise of happiness and love in a new land under an everlasting sun.
It was not to last. Arthur's job was demanding, and the South African climate and lifestyle proved almost unbearable to her — and especially to her first son, born in Bloemfontein the following year.
In April 1895, Mabel traveled back to England for what should have been a short vacation with her two small children. But her husband was not to join them, having died unexpectedly in South Africa a few months later, leaving Mabel a young widow, with little income and an uncertain future.
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