So Kaoru Mori is also responsible for Victorian Romance Emma, an anime I loved (and a manga I have not yet read but definitely will after this). A Bride's Story is set along the Silk Road in the nineteenth century and it is amazing.
The eponymous bride, Amir, is only in about half of the volumes; the rest split off and follow an English anthropologist named Mr. Smith as he tries to get home. After the first two volumes it becomes very slice-of-life, which honestly I prefer; it lets Mori show off her research and truly incredible art, plus we get a lot more character development.
The basic setup is that Amir, a twenty-year-old girl, has come to marry Karluk, a twelve-year-old boy. Naturally the marriage is a little weird for both of them, but they're making it work (and being very sweetly cute along the way). Unfortunately, Amir's family has decided they can give her to a better tribe, and wants her back. No one except Amir's brothers want that to happen. Things get dark in a hurry.
And then get light again as Henry Smith, an anthropologist staying with the family (and a delight), has to make his way home through several other stories- the bittersweet story of Talas, a young widow; Laila and Leyli, a set of twins who would like to be married but to very specific people; Anis, a lonely young wife, and her friend Sherine; and more.
These are so good, guys. The story is well told, the art is absolutely flabbergastingly incredible (seriously, google this stuff), the research is impeccable. I'm mad the last two volumes aren't in English yet (or at the very least aren't anywhere I can get my paws on them) because I want mooooore.