''GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love'' is a bestselling book by
Duncan Barrett
Duncan Barrett is a writer and editor who specialises in biography and memoir. After publishing several books in collaboration with other authors, he published his first solo book, ''Men of Letters'', in 2014. Barrett also works as a journalist ...
and Nuala Calvi, authors of ''
The Sugar Girls
''The Sugar Girls: Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle's East End'' is a work of narrative non-fiction based on interviews with women who worked in Tate & Lyle's East End factories in Silvertown from the mid-1940s onwards. Wr ...
''.
It was published by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
on 29 August 2013.
The book tells the true stories of four British
GI Brides, women who married American servicemen stationed in their country during the 'friendly invasion' of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
It is based on interviews with them, but written in a
narrative style
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc.). ...
.
Characters
Sylvia O'Connor – a volunteer at a
Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
club in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
who married a military policeman from
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
. She travelled to America by plane after he won the money for the ticket in a dice game.
Lyn Patrino – who married an Italian-American lieutenant she met in her hometown of
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
. After a stay at a transit camp in
Tidworth
Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, sout ...
, she traveled on one of the early war bride ships, and arrived in New York to find protesters waving placards that read 'English Whores Go Home'.
Rae Zurovcik – a welder in the
ATS
ATS or Ats may refer to:
Businesses
* ATS Wheels (''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör''), a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team
* ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company
* ...
who met her husband while stationed in
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
. While on the ship to New York, she was already doubting her decision to marry an American and wished that she could swim back to England.
Margaret Denby – Calvi's grandmother and the inspiration for the book, who married a man from a land-owning family in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. She had begun seeing him while on the rebound from another American.
Background
The authors researched the book during a three-month visit to America in 2012. They drove through 38 states and covered almost in their search for surviving war brides, and interviewed more than 60 brides and their relatives.
Reception
On 15 September 2013 the book went into the ''
Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' bestsellers chart at number eight. On 30 November 2014 a US edition went into the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' nonfiction bestseller list.
References
{{reflist
External links
''GI Brides'' official website and blogwith images and audio clips of interviewees
2013 non-fiction books
History books about World War II
Non-fiction books about women in war
HarperCollins books