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The Ship Of Brides (2015)

The Ship of Brides (2015)

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Rating
3.71 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0340830107 (ISBN13: 9780340830109)
Language
English

About book The Ship Of Brides (2015)

On October 27, 1945 the HMS Victorious set off for the first of three trips to transport WWII servicemen and war brides. Jojo Moyes's own grandmother was one of those brides, traveling from Australia to England to be with her husband. According to the acknowledgements, her story and others inspired The Ship of Brides, which was originally released back in 2005 but has recently been reissued by Penguin.The war has ended and out of the remaining war brides in Australia, Margaret, Avice, Jean, and Frances have each been chosen to travel to England aboard HMS Victory in a push to reunite them with their husbands. They aren't the first to travel to England and they aren't the last, but they're the lucky ones who won't have to wait any longer. The four couldn't be more different from one another and yet they find themselves bunkmates on the newly outfitted aircraft carrier. Margaret is massively pregnant; Jean, at sixteen, is among the youngest on board; Frances, a former nurse, is quite closemouthed about her past; and Avice is a society girl who'd hoped for roommates of a different class. But they each have one thing in common: they've left behind everything they know to start a new life. Decades later, one of these women gets the shock of a lifetime when she stumbles upon a reminder of that fateful journey. I rather liked The Ship of Brides, and I really wasn't sure that I would at the start. Mainly because I'd looked forward to it for so long but never really felt I was in the right mood for it. But I forced myself to sit down with it one evening and soon found myself quite taken in by the story.This one is very different from the other titles I've read by Moyes thus far. To be honest, that was appealing at this stage as both One Plus One and Silver Bay had a lot of common elements between them. And while there is some of that in The Ship of Brides, the premise and the WWII setting couldn't have been more different!This was most definitely a piece of history that was fairly new to me. Not so much the war brides aspect but the fact that such a massive undertaking to deliver these women to their new homes had occurred. Moyes does a wonderful job blending in historical quotes from real men and women concerning the actual HMS Victorious mission, setting the scene mood of the novel quite nicely. Each of the characters came across as genuine in both emotion and setting, making it easy to imagine them as real people. Bringing the story forward to the present day was also a nice touch that added another layer of believability for me as the reader.Ship of Brides may not be what you've come to expect from Moyes but it is a wonderful historical read, perfect for anyone who enjoys WWII fiction.

Opening Line: “The first time I saw her again, I felt as if I’d been hit.”I absolutely loved this book, another winner from JoJo Moyes who bases this moving story on real events (and her own grandmother) Taking the reader back to 1946 in the aftermath of the Second World War as thousands of young war brides are transported from Australia to England to meet up with their GI husbands who they’d married during the conflict. For many woman it was a time of huge uncertainty, leaving their families and everything they’d ever known behind and preying they didn’t receive the dreaded “Not wanted, don’t come telegram” once aboard.Ship Of Brides follows four of these woman (out of the 650 on board) all from very different backgrounds and covers their experience from a boarding house in Sydney throughout their 6 week journey at sea aboard an aircraft carrier (which also still carries over a thousand naval officers so rules of honor, duty and separation must be enforced.The story begins in India in 2002 (which initially threw me a bit) as an elderly grandmother on vacation stumbles across the broken hull of a once great British warship, now in the process of being dismantled for scrap on an oily, debris littered beach. She has come upon a ship graveyard and can just make out the name on one of the rusted hulls “Victoria” and at once is overwhelmed by memories…I was surprised by how involved I got in this story but Moyes not only takes the reader back to 1946 but manages to keep a huge element of suspense going throughout the journey (Frances, a former nurse is kept frustratingly mysterious until the very last pages – and I kinda loved her.) We also enter the POV of the injured and grieving Captain, a Marine who has received a Dear John letter, a woman widowed before she reaches her destination, another who discovers her husband is already married and follow stowaway dogs, boiler room brawls, disastrous fires, miscarriages, lovely leg contests, ashore days in India and Gibraltar, excitement, fear, heartache and joy. Because this has been based on an actual sailing taken by the HMS Victorious, Moyes was able to include extracts from journals, newspaper clippings, and diary entries from the actual men and women aboard which added an element of real emotion to the voyage.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.401jb5

Do You like book The Ship Of Brides (2015)?

I really liked it. The back story is historically true that Australian girls who married British soldiers were transported to England after WWII via ships. This story is the fictionalized account of 4 of the 600 brides who made a 6 week voyage via a British aircraft carrier. The 4 in the story share an an 8x10' cabin---Jean is a very young, immature outspoken bride, Avice is a society girl, Margaret is a down to earth farm girl, and Frances is extremely reserved. The ins and outs of their relationship with each other as well as their daily life with the sailors on board are interesting. If I have one criticism of the book it's that the naval jargon and slang from Australia or perhaps WWII isn't explained very well. For instance "brass" seems to be a prostitute, "Tannoy" is the public address system, still not sure what a "rating" is. There are marines on board, ratings, engineers and naval officers? Just couldn't get a feel for some of the jargon but it didn't mess up the enjoyment of reading the book. My favorite quote from the book: “The only people who still have all the answers are those who have never been faced with the questions.” ---Frances MacKenzie to Captain Highsmith
—Linda

This was my second Jojo Moyes book, after reading and thoroughly enjoying 'The last letter from your lover'. The Ship of Brides is a moving story based on a real events taking place in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as thousands of young women were transported to Great Britain or the United States from Australia to meet up with the GI-husbands they married when they were stationed in the country during the conflict. In many cases, these young women left their families and homes behind to take a painfully long journey steaming across the oceans for weeks, heading to an uncertain life in a foreign country.Beginning on a beach/ship graveyard in present-day India, the broken hull of a warship being scrapped brings back unexpected and overwhelming memories for an elderly grandmother on holiday. We are then taken back to the days immediately post 1945 and a story centering on four very different young women who are thrown together in sleeping quarters aboard the soon-to-be-retired Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Victoria. Together with hundreds of other young women on the ship, they are travelling to England to meet again the men they married when stationed in Australia as the war raged in the Pacific. They're heading to a life and country that's foreign, meeting their new families for the first time - having left their own families and friends behind, they must adjust to a tense and cramped life aboard the ship as well as the all male crew which leads to incidents and encounters, both unfortunate and uplifting.Adding particular depth to the story is the fact that The Ship of Brides is based on an actual journey that took place in 1946 on board the HMS Victorious and many of the diary entries and journal records of some of the crew and passengers of that journey are included at the beginning of each chapter. This adds the real emotion of actual events to a tale that is nicely written by Moyes and is rich in human warmth. I really enjoy Jojo Moyes' writing and The Ship of Brides is a lovely and moving story. It reminded me again of the sacrifices and experiences of that extraordinary generation that fought the Second World War and built a new world in its aftermath, giving up so much and embarking on long and arduous journies to build a life we today simply take for granted.
—Gee

Maybe this leopard can change her spots. I'm the perennial thriller reader. I read thrillers because they are often fast passed, make my heart beat faster and I love a suspenseful read. So why have I found myself bewtiched by the author JoJo Moyes? I have just finished my third book The Ship of Brides and will be singing its praises to everyone I meet. 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 sort of Dear Jane letter, one stating What I really liked about  The Ship of Brides is how it made me think. I started to wonder about the women and ship the book is based on. How much fact, how much fiction? It took me on a new journey seeking answers. If you have any desire to know more about this slice of history three websites provided lots of information, the best being The National Archives of Australia. These also were worth scouting out HMS Victorious, Rootsweb Warbrides. In addition it brought me back to memories of the war and how it affected my family. I am a baby boomer who wishes I asked more questions about their experiences leading up to, during and after the war before I lost all those who could answer. The Ship of Brides held my attention from start to finish. I have become a fan of JoJo Moyes all over again. I'm so glad I haven't read all her books yet. This is something to truly look forward to.
—Carol

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