War Brides

"We sailed for Canada in April 1945 on a Greek ship, the Nea Hellis. The crossing took three weeks all the while avoiding the torpedoes. There were over 1,000 war brides and children aboard as well as wounded soldiers going home." - Iris Rickets. 'Overpaid, over-sexed and over here' was the verdict of many British civilians of American and Canadian soldiers conscripted to Britain in the Second World War. Yet for thousands of young girls, the influx of handsome young military men meant flirting, 'walking out' - and falling in love. The result was over 48,000 hasty marriages to Canadian soldiers alone, and a mass emigration of British young women to northern America and across the globe in the 1940s. Historian Melynda Jarratt has painstakingly captured the incredible stories of young women - some say brave, some say foolish - who left their families and homes to move to a country thousands of miles away with a man they barely knew. Yet the ensuing decades brought happiness to many, and surviving women share their tales of love, family and starting again. For some brides, the outcome was a very different story, and the darker side of the crossings reveals astonishing accounts of infidelity, domestic violence, venereal disease and even bigamy. This incredible new history draws on archives, rare documents, medical records and key first-hand accounts to tell the amazing story of the war brides in their own words - and shows the love, passion, tragedy and spirit of adventure that thousands of British women experienced in a turbulent time.