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The Ship of Brides

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Anyway, that puts my reread count at twice for Me Before You, and probably 12 or 14 times for The Ship of Brides. The story is about four Australian war brides on their way to join their British husbands at the end of WWII. The British Navy sends them on a converted aircraft carrier, turning the ship’s storage rooms and liftwells into dorms for the young women. There’s an amazing amount of research into how the brides spent their days and the sheer logistics of transport, including clips from newspapers of the time, but it always feels like fiction. The systems of wartime rationing, postal delivery, and military hierarchy are intregrated smoothly into a story about relationships and change. I often get confused in stories with large casts, and this story was no different. But there were a few characters whom I really adored -- the woman with her dog, the woman who ends up in the nightmarish tenement situation, and also the captain, who winds up marrying the primary female protagonist. These characters were finely drawn, fleshed out, and I connected to them and rode the little ripples of their stories through the greater waves of the plot, right to the end. There was moment (nearer the end) when I thought it was drifting to 4 stars. I felt a little lost, wanting that something else could happen. But the end improved everything. Yes, there was a happy ending! Yes, not for every of main characters but enough to feel warm closing the book. With the end of World War II, Australian war brides prepare to embark on their voyage across the seas on the Victoria, a British aircraft carrier, arriving in Britain and into the awaiting arms of their soldier husbands. Over 600 brides are to make the six week sojourn--leaving their country and their families, possibly for the last time. It’s the end of World War II and thousands of Australian women, War Brides, will be traveling to England to reunite with the men they married. Over 600 will not have the luxury of traveling on a ship like the Queen Mary with all of its amenities but will make the six-week journey on The Victoria, an aircraft carrier. The Victoria is ill suited as a vessel for women, outfitted for its crew of men and planes. The book focuses on four of the brides allowing us a window to their hopes, fears and dreams. These four along with the others are leaving all that they know, all who they know behind to start a new life on foreign shores. Even those madly in love wonder at the sanity of their decision. And what of those who mid-voyage receive a Dear Jane Letter.

This is the last of my gifts from my sister of my heart Verlie’s donations that I will be bringing my review to Goodreads. Jean reminded me of Lydia from Pride & Prejudice, though not quite as annoying. I actually like Jean. She’s young and acts before thinking, but she would’ve been the one I would’ve wanted to hang out with on the ship. She’s a party girl who wants to flirt, even though she’s married. What’s wrong with flirting? She’s not cheating on Stan, whom she really, genuinely loves. An adventure story grounded in female competence and mutual support, and an obvious affection for the popular literature of the early 20th century, give this Depression-era novel plenty of appeal. . . There’s plenty of drama, but the reader’s lasting impression is one of love.” When I finished this novel, I didn’t want to review it: I wanted to reread it. . . . An affair to remember.”

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An old aircraft carrying ship is commissioned for its last journey to take these brides across the sea on the six week journey to be reunited with the loved one they haven't seen in months or even years. The author introduces us to four bunk mates, from very different walks of life, as they journey to their husbands. Some are from wealthy families, some are simple farm girls, some are young and naive, and some are hiding very dark pasts. Margaret is the one that seems like she can get along with everyone, so I would’ve hung out with Margaret, too. She’s calm and understanding, but she can hold her own, which she’s had to do with a house full of men and no mother around. Margaret met her husband Joe through her brother and their engagement story is priceless. urn:lcp:shipofbrides0000moye:epub:1a65f66f-1581-40ea-9823-3a45547f2ed7 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier shipofbrides0000moye Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t6m13493n Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780340960387 Rich in history, with well-developed characters and a strong sense of place, this book will fit well in any library’s fiction collection.For fans of Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephantsor Catherine Marshall’s Christy.” Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-07-30 15:06:33 Boxid IA1884313 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

Bestselling authorJojoMoyeshas a unique way of using her prose to make her readers feel great emotions – love, passion, sadness, and grief – and her latest novel The Giver of Stars–does not disappoint in that respect.” Compelling. . . It’s an epic feminist adventure that candidly paints a community’s soul-searching with great humor, heartache, honesty, and love.”

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I would definitely recommend this book to fans of historical romance and even WWII fiction. This book tells a story some people might not know, I certainly didn't. It's a story worth telling, how these hundreds of women promised themselves as wives to soldiers on the front lines, women who were expected to meet those obligations. That the burden of the promise was seen as theirs alone to carry, well it makes a good story, but sad history. The writing is fantastic and by the end I felt like I really knew these women and wondered how their lives had turned out, in fact I didn’t want to let them go.

Jean ist die Jüngste, unreif, ungebildet und naiv aber offen und direkt. Und man hat sie einfach gern.The Ship of Brides is a wonderful read: a tale of fate and destiny that remains utterly unsentimental.”

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