Times & Transcript (Moncton)
August 2nd, 2007 B7
War brides left their homes for a new life:
Fredericton author carried idea around in her head for 20 years, then got to work on book
Michael Staples, the fredericton gleaner
FREDERICTON - After 20 years of carrying the idea around in her head, collecting information and writing each and every spare minute, Melynda Jarratt has completed her work on war brides.
It's contained in a new book that promises to shed light on what has become an intriguing part of Canadian history.
"War Brides: The Stories of the Women Who Left Everything Behind to Marry the Men They Loved" draws on original archival documents, personal correspondence and key first-hand accounts.
"It was very hard work," said Jarratt. "I feel like I have done everything that I could do." There were more than 48,000 marriages to Canadian soldiers alone during the 1940s.
"It's quite an honour to be mentioned in a book," Doris Lloyd said in a telephone interview from her home in Plaster Rock, N.B. "She wrote a good book and it brings back memories. I have been here for 62 years."
Lloyd said the book complemented the 2006 Year of the War Bride, an event Jarratt was instrumental in having declared, and she was happy to be part of it.
"The war brides story is so fabulous it is not hard to come up with ideas and there are so many wonderful angles," Jarratt said.
"Instead of following the way that everyone else has done it before, I broke it up into nine different subjects. I started off with the Maritimes and I am very proud to say that the first story is Mrs. Jean Paul.
"I talked to myself about it and thought 'who is the most Canadian?' If anyone is the most Canadian of all the war brides, it is someone who married an aboriginal Canadian."
The late Paul of Tobique was the grandmother of T.J. Burke, minister of justice and attorney general of New Brunswick.
Jarratt said she was able to cover every province in the book.
Stories reveal how life in Canada brought happiness to many but darker moments for others. Included are what Jarratt describes as "astonishing accounts of infidelity, domestic violence, poverty, alcoholism and divorce."
"After doing (research) for 20 years, I thought I had heard it all. There were people who wrote to me amazing stories that, in themselves, would make great movies. I am hoping that someone will pick up on that."
Jarratt said her book is the first of its kind to be written and published for a British audience. She hopes to travel to the country this fall for book signings.
"I hope they (the British) understand what kind of a legacy they have left behind in terms of the sheer numbers of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who can claim a war bride in their family tree."
"War Brides: The Stories of the Women Who Left Everything Behind to Marry the Men They Loved" is distributed in Canada through Van Well Publishing (www.vanwell.com).
Note: The book is titled "War Brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved."
