Book Review and Preview: The Ship Of Brides By Jo Jo Moyes

This is a book review and sneak preview of The Ship Of Brides by Jo Jo Moyes that was published on 28 October 2014.

Jo Jo Moyes is a New York best seller and has written a dozen books (I've read Me Before You which I loved and that's why I was drawn to this one). Jo Jo writes for a variety of magazines and newspapers and lives with her family on a farm in Essex, England.

It's the end of World War 11 and thousands of Australian women are packing up and heading over to England to be with the British servicemen they married during war time.

This story starts in 2002 and is narrated by a grandmother who starts to tell the story of the ship of brides based in 1946.

Most war brides were shipped across the seas on a luxury sea liner, but these brides are boarded onto an aircraft carrier ship, with a crew of men and aircraft for it's 6 week journey. There are no private cabins, entertainment, fine dining or the luxury of the other sea liners.

The book focuses on four young women who share a cabin and each tell their stories of home, the life they are leaving behind, how they met their partners and the life they are going to start with them when they arrive in England.

The realisation that these women onboard were leaving everything behind to start a new life in another country was really so brave, some had married in haste, some were pregnant, some were very young teenagers, and some were given the dreaded telegram "Not wanted. Don't come" part way through the voyage.

This book struck an emotional connection with me because I have done this exact journey on the Oriana cruise ship - from Fremantle, Western Australia to Southhampton, United Kingdom which took 6.5 weeks!

I loved the writing in this book and felt that I was right onboard with these girls living with them and being a part of their dreams and fears. This is a fiction story based on real life events and is a brilliant piece of Australian history.

I recommend this book to Jo Jo fans, romantics and anyone interested in Australian history.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

The Ship Of Brides can be purchased from Penguin here

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

You can find Jo Jo's website here

Disclosure: Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this eBook published by Penguin to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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[Image via Penguin]