War Brides: The Stories of the Women Who Left Everything Behind to Follow the Men They Loved

For thousands of young British girls, the influx of Canadian soldiers conscripted to Britain during the Second World War meant throngs of handsome young men for British women. The result was over 48,000 marriages to Canadian soldiers alone, and a mass emigration of British women to North America and around the world in the 1940s. For many brides, the decision to leave their family and home to move to a country thousands of miles away with a man they hardly knew brought forth ensuing happiness. For others, the outcome was much different, and the darker side of the story reveals the infidelity, domestic violence, poverty, alcoholism and divorce that many lived through. This book draws on original archival documents, personal correspondence, and firsthand accounts to tell the amazing story of the war brides in their own words.