“Apart from the strength of the individual stories, one of the richest things about this book is the detail: the atmosphere on the rackety old ships which took the war brides across the Atlantic; the hideous, humiliating medical inspections they had to endure before being deemed fit to enter the USA; the dreadful anxiety of waiting for men who had promised to meet them on arrival, but didn’t show up; the little mistakes in language which made the women feel more isolated, so far from home. … More life stories of their generation need to be recorded, because we owe them so much and can learn from their ethos of grit and hard work.” – Bel Mooney, Daily Mail
“GI Brides uses the same winning format as Barrett and Calvi’s previous book, The Sugar Girls. The pair conducted lengthy interviews with surviving GI Brides, then crafted the fruits into a series of narratives that collectively read like a novel but are, in fact, careful retellings of actual experiences. All four main subjects had a hard time of it, with unwanted pregnancies, and cheating, abusive or drunken husbands. There are many grim and even gruesome vignettes from wartime London, with horrific bombings and an attempted abortion. But the overall tone is one of triumph over personal adversity. … This is a treasure box of testimonies from a very different world, and one that will soon slip from living memory. Kudos to the authors for capturing these memories for posterity, and in such a readable, touching way.” – The Londonist
“A captivating and pacey read, thoroughly researched and told with clear-eyed honesty.” – Family Tree magazine
“Beautifully written, it manages to seamlessly combine oral history with well-researched social history. The retelling of the excitement, romance, fears and hardships the G I brides experienced is engaging throughout … An immensely readable history of real people.” – London Historians
“Packed with emotion, as well as shocking insights into war-torn Britain … compelling and illuminating reading.” – Richmond Magazine
“Such stories have been told many times but that doesn’t lessen the poignancy of [them] … revealed so vividly in a moving new book called GI Brides.” – Nottingham Post
Other press coverage:
An interview with some of the GI Brides in the Daily Express
A feature about the GI Brides in the Sunday Mirror
An article about the GI Brides at Mail Online
Nuala’s article about her grandmother’s story in The Guardian
An interview with Nuala and Duncan in Female First
An interview with Nuala at Yahoo Lifestyle
An article in the Newham Recorder
An article about the book at Saga online
Radio:
Listen to Nuala on Sean Moncrieff’s show on Newstalk radio in Ireland.
Listen to Duncan and Nuala on Robert Elms’ show on BBC London (in two parts).
Listen to Nuala on the Who Do You Think You Are podcast (in two parts).
Listen to Nuala on BBC Radio 4’s magazine programme Saturday Live.
Listen to Nuala on Talk Radio Europe’s Book Show.
