GI Brides

The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love

By: Duncan Barrett, Nuala Calvi

Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

For listeners enchanted by the best sellers The Astronaut Wives Club, The Girls of Atomic City, and Summer at Tiffany's, an absorbing tale of romance and resilience - the true story of four British women who crossed the Atlantic for love, coming to America at the end of World War II to make a new life with the American servicemen they married.

The "friendly invasion" of Britain by over a million American G.I.s bewitched a generation of young women deprived of male company during the Second World War. With their exotic accents, smart uniforms, and aura of Hollywood glamour, the G.I.s easily conquered their hearts, leaving British boys fighting abroad green with envy. But for girls like Sylvia, Margaret, Gwendolyn, and even the skeptical Rae, American soldiers offered something even more tantalizing than chocolate, chewing gum, and nylon stockings: An escape route from Blitz-ravaged Britain, an opportunity for a new life in affluent, modern America.

Through the stories of these four women, G.I. Brides illuminates the experiences of war brides who found themselves in a foreign culture thousands of miles away from family and friends, with men they hardly knew. Some struggled with the isolation of life in rural America, or found their soldier less than heroic in civilian life. But most persevered, determined to turn their wartime romance into a lifelong love affair, and prove to those back home that a Hollywood ending of their own was possible.

©2013 Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Wonderful true stories of very brave women

Fascinating true stories of young war brides, especially for anyone interested in the WWII era. The narrator has a lovely British accent that is pleasant to listen to EXCEPT when she is trying to disguise it as American or Italian. She constantly gets it wrong, and it is somewhat distracting. She sounds a bit like a woman from Brooklyn when she is reading the part of a woman from California, and completely muddles the accent of an Italian-immigrant-mother-in-law. When she is speaking for American male soldiers, she sounds flat, crass and as though she is stereotypically "mocking Americans." She is borderline offensive in that she did not research it further, or at the very least work with a dialect coach. If you can't or won't get it right, then please just read the script with your own tongue.

A terrific case study

I loved this book, it provided an interesting look at the lives and loves, the joys and sorrows of war brides just after WWII.
It is not a happy book in many ways, but the culture differences from England to the US, strained, broken, and repaired relationships with husbands and in-laws... I read this book months ago, and it still haunts me. I'll read it again and recommend it to anyone I know who enjoys such things.

GI Brides

I just love WWII history! There is such an amalgamation of beauty and romance, horror and desolation that I seem to be transfixed with these stories no matter what angle they take. In GI Brides we get another interesting angle (and one I haven't read yet): that of the English women who fell in love with the American men that flooded their shores and that left behind everything to follow these men to a country they knew so little about. What makes this story that much better is the fact that it's all true!

GI Brides shares the experiences of four English women during the war and after as they moved to America with their G.I.s. Each chapter concentrates on one woman's story and the chapters alternate between women. I was impressed with how well the stories flowed together, showing the similarities within each storyline as well as how each woman's situation was unique, and it really read more like a novel than what I've experienced with more bland, facts-driven nonfiction (which is a good thing!). What I enjoyed most of all was the fact that the stories weren't sugar-coated to give "happily ever after" situations. These women sacrificed a huge amount, leaving behind everything they had to follow these men they really didn't know very well. None of the men were exactly who they said they were and these women had to face the realities of men suffering with alcoholism, gambling addiction, overbearing families and even infidelity. What I was left with was a remarkable appreciation for what these women endured and how they never gave up on working for the life they wanted for themselves and their children (if they had any), whether that was with these G.I.s or not. These women were survivors.

My biggest complaint with G.I. Brides isn't really the story but the narrator of the audiobook (I switched back and forth between the Kindle version and the Audible version). While she did a good job of guiding the story along with her inflections and pacing she didn't really distinguish much between the various characters' voices. While I know it would be incredibly difficult to differentiate between this many people I have heard it done before and, for the most part, the women all sounded the same and the men all sounded the same. I will also say that there are some delightful pictures of the women and their families, which I very much enjoyed, but they were lumped all together at the end of the eBook. I would have preferred them disbursed throughout when the actual people were being discussed so I could visualize them while reading, not after I was finished.

I think G.I Brides does a wonderful job of giving a well rounded look at what these English women gained and lost by following their hearts to America. It isn't overly romanticized or exaggerated, it is real life with all its ups and downs. I would probably recommend the print version if you are like me and love having pictures throughout showing the people being discussed (I assume the print version does this), but if this isn't an issue for you I would highly recommend getting the story whichever way you can. I look forward to reading more about G.I. brides and that's because of what I learned here.

Captivating story

I loved this book-- it is heart wrenching and painful, but so human and beautiful.

My only complaint is the performance-- the reader's attempt at an American accent is ghastly and distracting. Luckily it is only a small part of the book, and shouldn't dissuade anyone from listening to it.

Disappointed

What started out as an interesting book became boring and sad. The more I read, the more I felt like I was in a sad story going downhill in in a spiral of pain and agony.

Great Insight

GI Brides gave a lot of insight into a common practice during WWII. Some of the marriages were perfect, but often they just didn't work out as well as the "bride" had hoped. She often had to be shamed and go back to her homeland, or put up with a drunk in one example, as these husbands could be abusive, etc. Very informative and thought provoking!

Fascinating

A true story I would never have known. I liked the reader of the book. Well done. It kept me reading. Couldn't put it down

Compelling stories

This is a very well-written book with compelling stories of WW2 War Brides. Heartbreaking, but triumphant, these true stories will stay with you for a long time.

Great historical listen

I thought this was a great story that covered a pivotal time during & after WWII. My wife was surprised I listened to it. This affected thousands of American troops, foreign women, many governments & touched the lives of families on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

I wanted to like this for its history...

...but I couldn’t finish it. The pluses were: the presence of the American Red Cross in England and the canteens they ran. So commendable! I hadn’t been aware of them. Also the cultural divide between the Brits and the Yanks.

But the negatives: the story was told more than shown. I was anxious to get through each chapter because it became monotonous. Details were presented but not in a foreshadowing or tension-relieving way; just details. The narrator clearly thinks all American men sound alike. It was hard to listen to for its flat rendition of voices. And the negative story for each bride upon arriving in America just became too burdensome to listen to.

Sorry. I hung in there for a few weeks but realized today I have better stories to use my time on.