Hello,
Just who are The War Brides? This is from the goodreads.com description of this book:
"Alice Osbourne, the stolid daughter of the late vicar, is reeling from the news that Richard Fairfax broke their engagement to marry Evangeline Fontaine, an American girl from the Deep South. Evangeline's arrival causes a stir in the village, but not the chaos that would ensue if they knew her motives for being there. Scrappy Elsie Pigeon is among the poor of London who see the evacuations as a chance to escape a life of destitution. Another new arrival is Tanni Zayman, a young Jewish girl who fled the horrors of Europe and now waits with her newborn son, certain that the rest of her family is safe and bound to show up any day. And then there's Frances Falconleigh, a madcap, fearless debutante whose father is determined to keep her in the countryside and out of the papers. "
Thanks to my friend Wendy, who suggested I read this book. I have to admit I judged this book by it's cover and would have never read it without her prodding. I don't know that I would recommend it, but I read it over several months- so I probably lost something in the extended reading time.
My main criticism of this book is that it never seemed to figure out what kind of book did it want to be. Was it suppose to be a romance, was it historical fiction or a spy drama. It's fine if Bryan wanted to incorporate all those genres, but she didn't meld those together so well. It seemed like once when the story got some momentum, it shifted gears. For instance the four living war brides are coming back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of VE day. First the ladies are catching up, then they're involved in a television interview, then they settle a score and finally go back to conversing. It's an odd mix of events, the gears shift too fast from one kind of storyline to another.
When we find out who Mannfred is, it's almost anticlimactic. It seems like we are about to find out who Mannfred is- and there are some strong hints- and then out of nowhere it skips 50 years forward. Then I didn't expect to find out who Manfred is, but we do. Again it's anticlimactic- what's the point of getting vengeance against an 85 year old man? It would have been more satisfying if they had got revenge against him actually in World War 2. How the traitors sent signals to the Nazis, sending all clear weather report back to Germany so the Germans can know the best time to bomb, was a clever story telling method. Yes, there are some very clever things in this book.
I loved the characters, especially the war brides. My favorite war bride was Frances- although not technically a war bride. I liked their husbands as well. I loved the history of the book, World War 2 was one of the most interesting eras in world history. It's always a brutal slap in the face when I realized just how evil the Nazis were- really no other word works- thank goodness for people like Churchill and Roosevelt and their clear eyed leadership. Thank goodness the Nazis didn't win.
"War Brides" is a decent book. It just seems with a few tweaks the decent enough book could have been so much better. I wish the editing process had been more thorough and the book more cohesive. I don't say any of that as criticism, I'm just a bit sad the book didn't reach it's full potential.
My final grade would be a C or C+. Next up I'm reading Robert Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land".
themusicaddict
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