This is definitely a chick-lit book that I think would appeal to an older audience. Set on a British ship in 1946, “The Ship of Brides” is the story of Australian war brides traveling to Britain after World War II. Since many British soldiers were stationed in Australia during the war, many met and married Australian women. After the war these women traveled to England to be with their husbands.
On the HMS Victoria, an aircraft carrier, 650 women set sail from Sydney, Australia to Plymouth, England. Many had been married for a very short time; some hardly knew the men they had married. JoJo Moyes focuses on the story of four very different women who roomed in a very small cabin for more than forty days. Weaving fact and fiction, she tells their stories and the secrets that each lives with.
Although the ending is predictable, I was interested in how the author was going to resolve the problems each of these women faced. The facts about sea travel, the interactions between the crew and the brides, and the side stories of how these women took classes and learned about their new country made the novel interesting. A bit more than a soap opera plot, “The Ship of Brides” was a fun read.