Gwendolyn’s Story

This is Gwendolyn’s story, one of four true stories from the book GI Brides.

They sat down together and Ben pulled her close. ‘Lyn,’ he whispered. ‘You know I’m head over heels in love with you. I’ll never love anyone else as long as I live.’ It was the most romantic thing Lyn had ever heard – and coming from Ben she knew that it was true.

Gwendolyn’s hometown of Southampton is taken over by the Americans of the ‘friendly invasion’ as they prepare for D-Day. She falls in love with a romantic Italian-American officer, and excitedly travels to California to be with him. But once there, Gwendolyn clashes with a formidable mother-in-law, who tells her husband: ‘It’s her or me!’

Gwendolyn’s story is extracted from GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It captures the memories of the thousands of women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.

Reviews

‘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…’ Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

About the author

Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi are the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls, which chronicled the stories of young women working in Tate and Lyle’s factory in the East End of London.

Duncan studied English at Cambridge and is a writer and editor, specialising in biography and memoir. As a journalist, Nuala Calvi has written for The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Express, the BBC, CNN and numerous Time Out guides.