"THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL," by Meg Rosoff, Viking, 224 pages, $24.95

The grass is always greener … or so the saying goes.

In "The Bride's Farewell," by Meg Rosoff, a young girl learns that things aren't always better somewhere else — sometimes they're just plain different and sometimes they're worse.

Set in rural England in the 1850s, "The Bride's Farewell" is the story of how a young girl learns the value of family and the shape of her own heart.

Pell Ridley isn't happy, and that's a bad thing for a bride-to-be. She doesn't love her fiance; her father is an alcoholic, holier than thou, womanizing preacher; and as far as she can tell, the only thing marriage brings is pain and suffering. So, the night before her wedding, Pell decides to leave home and see what life has to offer elsewhere.

Pell has never been a girly girl, spending all her time in the great outdoors with horses. And she's good at it — better than any of the men in her village. And having that set of skills, Pell thinks she has a chance finding work at the Salisbury Fair, where horse trading takes place.

The one crimp in her plan — her little brother, Bean, decides to come with her. But even the appearance of Bean can't keep Pell down. After all, Bean is a sweet, silent child who brings her comfort.

Things change, however, when Pell strikes a bargain with a man at the fair. In exchange for selecting a half-dozen sound horses, the man will pay her 5 pounds. It's more than Pell could have ever hoped for, but the agreement goes terribly wrong, separating Pell from her brother and leaving everything else shrouded in uncertainty.

Pell immediately sets out to find Bean, journeying farther than she ever expected and learning more about herself and the world around her than she ever wanted to know.

In "The Bride's Farewell," Rosoff creates a world of peculiar, intriguing characters. Her imagery is sound, but like her main character, her structure wanders quite a bit. The reader just gets into a rhythm when a tangent pulls them away. And while those tangents are necessary, some of them seem misplaced.

Despite straying, though, Rosoff's prose is strong and accessible, making the reader willing to forgive a few missteps.

"Bride's Farewell" reads like a fairy tale, and it's more grim than not, but it's a fun little jaunt that many will appreciate.

e-mail: jharrison@desnews.com