Their Wedding Journey

In Short

William Dean Howells’s 1871 novel follows Basil and Isabel March, a sensible Bostonian-turned-New Yorker and his sharp-witted wife, as they embark on a delayed honeymoon through New York State and Lower Canada. Eschewing grand romantic drama, the narrative focuses on the couple’s humorous observations of fellow travelers, local history, and changing landscapes. It has endured as an exceptionally charming slice-of-life comedy, capturing mid-nineteenth-century American tourism and the quiet intimacy of early marriage with precise detail, light social satire, and timeless psychological accuracy.

The Story

The narrative opens in Boston and New York, where Basil and Isabel March prepare for their honeymoon weeks after their actual wedding. Both are past their first youth and eager to avoid looking like stereotypical newlyweds. Setting off during a suffocating summer heatwave, their journey begins on horse-cars and steamboats, moving up through New York State.

As they travel by rail through the Mohawk Valley toward Rochester, they pass the time studying their fellow passengers—observing old women buying sweet apples, weary travelers waiting at rural stations, and the mundane habits of everyday humanity. In Rochester, which they playfully romanticize as an enchanted city of lovers and moonlit streets, they stroll through quiet residential avenues and enjoy the pleasant detachment of strangers passing through.

Continuing onward, the Marches reach Niagara Falls. They cross the swaying wire suspension bridge, walk through the deceptive wilderness of Goat Island, and observe the endless stream of public love-making among other vacationing couples. Despite the looming presence of tourists and commercial sight-seeing outfits, they marvel at the eternal novelty of the cataract, eventually descending an elevator to view the rapids up close alongside fellow sightseers.

From Niagara, they board a steamboat to descend the St. Lawrence River, taking in the solitary, Mississippi-like landscape and passing historic settlements like St. Regis. Arriving in Montreal, Basil immerses Isabel in the region's rich Catholic and French-Canadian history, contrasting the heroic legacy of Champlain and Maisonneuve with modern colonial monuments. They visit the Gray Nuns’ hospital, where they observe the quiet devotion of the sisters, and later dine at a hotel alongside a traveling troupe of theatrical British blondes.

Their journey carries them to Quebec and eventually homeward through the wild borderlands of Maine, where the quaint French architecture gives way once more to utilitarian American structures. Twelve years later, in a brief concluding chapter, Basil and Isabel return to Niagara with their children. Though commercialism has grown—complete with Prospect Park fees, tintype photographers, and umbrella sheds—their shared affection and capacity for quiet observation remain undiminished.

How It Unfolds

Setting out in the heat Basil and Isabel board a New York horse-car during a sweltering midsummer day, resolving to follow their travel plans despite the heat because abandoned intentions feel like neglected duties.

Observing the rail car Riding through the Mohawk Valley, the Marches find endless entertainment in the quiet dullness of ordinary passengers, from thick-fingered women buying fruit to anxious travelers at country depots.

Romanticizing Rochester During a nighttime layover, the couple walks moonlit streets, transforming a busy manufacturing hub into a pastoral paradise of lovers, flower gardens, and idyllic charm.

Crossing Niagara At the Falls, they brave the sensitive, swaying suspension bridge and stroll through Goat Island's wild paths, taking in both the magnificent scenery and the ubiquitous public affection of other newlyweds.

Descending the St. Lawrence Steaming down the river past quiet French villages, Basil recalls the region's bloody frontier history and Jesuit past while contrasting the landscape with the wilder stretches of the American interior.

Visiting the Gray Nuns In Montreal, they attend midday prayers at the convent hospital, moved by the peaceful, repetitive devotion of the nuns and the small kindnesses shown to curious visitors.

Dining with the troupe At their hotel, the Marches observe a boisterous company of touring English actresses, enjoying the group's picaresque, rule-breaking energy amidst the conventional dining room atmosphere.

Returning years later Twelve years after their initial journey, Basil revisits Niagara with his children, braving the commercialized Prospect Park incline and slick spray while reflecting on time's passage.

The People

• Basil March: A thoughtful, dryly witty insurance man who has traded his youthful poetic ambitions for a comfortable, grounded domestic life. He wants to experience the world without pretense or vanity, and his historical knowledge and mild ironies shape the couple's shared commentary.
• Isabel March: Basil's sharp, lively, and intensely personal wife, who balances a horror of appearing like an obvious bride with a deep appreciation for cozy romance. She wants comfort and shared sentiment, often prodding Basil to translate the world into poetry while offering her own humorous take on human nature.
• Colonel Richard Ellison & Mrs. Fanny Ellison: Friends whom the Marches encounter during their Canadian travels. Mrs. Ellison is energetic and prone to dramatic exasperation, while the Colonel is easygoing to a fault, facing hotel room shortages and minor travel inconveniences with an unflappable, teasing smile.

In Its Own Voice

"Now the question is, my dear," said Basil when, free of the press, they lingered for a moment in the shade outside, "whether we had better walk up to Broadway, at an immediate sacrifice of fibre, and get a stage there, or take one of these cars here, and be landed a little nearer, with half the exertion."

Setting off into the oppressive city heat, Basil presents their limited transit options with characteristic, mock-philosophical gravity.

"A husband," continued Isabel, sententiously, poising a bit of meringue between her thumb and finger,--for they had reached that point in the repast, "a husband is almost as good as another woman!"

Over dinner, Isabel offers her ultimate tribute to married companionship, celebrating the ease of being completely understood without needing elaborate explanations.

What It's Really About

Beneath its scenic travelogue surface, the novel examines the quiet machinery of long-term companionship and the art of unpretentious living. Howells uses the journey to explore how mature love liberates individuals from the exhausting vanity of youth, allowing them to take pleasure in common humanity rather than self-display. The book also contrasts the historical depth of the North American landscape—such as French-Canadian history—with the rapid, utilitarian commercialism of nineteenth-century American life. Ultimately, it argues that genuine happiness lies in the capacity to find poetry, humor, and shared meaning in the mundane details of everyday routines.

Why Read It Today

Their Wedding Journey remains a delightful read for lovers of classic travel literature, gentle comedy, and subtle character studies. Howells writes with a light, observational grace that turns simple encounters—a crowded streetcar, a hotel dining room, or a rain shower at Niagara—into vivid slices of life. Modern readers will appreciate the relatable dynamic between Basil and Isabel, whose humorous bantering feels surprisingly modern.

The novel does require patience with nineteenth-century pacing. It lacks a dramatic, high-stakes plot, relying instead on mood, dialogue, and historical reflection. Readers must also navigate dated regional attitudes, Victorian literary references, and period descriptions of local populations. Yet for those who enjoy slow-paced, atmospheric prose and warm satire, the book offers a wonderfully restorative journey into the past.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Explore more about Howells and his works:"> <Elicitation label="Analyze Howells's role in American literary realism" query="Analyze William Dean Howells's role in establishing American literary realism and how it shows in Their Wedding Journey."/> <Elicitation label="Compare Basil and Isabel March across Howells's novels" query="How do Basil and Isabel March evolve in William Dean Howells's later novels, such as A Hazard of New Fortunes?"/> </ElicitationsGroup>