Title: The Diary of a War Bride Author: Lauri Robinson
Published: July 1, 2018
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 288
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:July 1942
Dear diary, despite the war raging around me, I find I can’t stop thinking about the American officer, Sergeant Dale Johnson. I’ve never known anyone as brave, kind and handsome! But I promised myself I wouldn’t care this much about a man again, especially when he could be transferred at any time. Yet that only makes me want to relish our time together. Now fighting my heart feels like the biggest battle…
Lauri Robinson’s Diary of a War Bride is an excellent WWII romance that is both sweet and well-researched. This book was a delight to read.
The novel opens with Kathryn riding her bike into town in order to deliver some fresh eggs to the local pub. The US Army has set up an air base nearby, and one of the B-17s stationed there flies directly overhead, scaring the bejeezus out of Kathryn and causing her to break her eggs. Sergeant Dale Johnson observes the incident, and a spitting mad Kathryn gives him a large piece of her mind. Kathryn and Dale don’t seem to get along, but over the next few months, they become fast friends. Robinson then follows her characters to London and eventually the United States over the course of 1942.
If I’m to be perfectly honest, WWII books don’t quite tend to be my cup of tea. As a kid, I was only ever allowed to read Christian romances, and WWII settings abound in that subgenre (even though they’re few and far between in secular historical romance). I suppose nowadays I just associate WWII romance with sickly-sweet Hallmark love scenes and often sanctimonious preaching? It was nice to try to tackle the time period outside of that context, and I’m glad I did. To be fair, Diary of a War Bride is a completely “clean,” closed-door romance, but that doesn’t bother me.
I think that WWII is still present enough in our cultural mind’s eye that an author writing a WWII book without doing much research or attempting to really develop this history of their story. (See also: Regency romances that, due to the popularity of the period, only sketch the barest historical context.) Yet Robinson chose not to go that route, and I think this historical research she did prior to writing the book shows. One of the major plot-points here is that, while stationed at the base in Kathryn’s town, Dale airdrops candy to the local billetted children who are obviously lonely and far from their parents. This is based on an actual US airman who dropped candy for German children.
Beyond that, the text of the book is full of interesting historical tidbits, about Land Girls and the Enigma Code and life in London during the Blitz. I felt very immersed in the period, and was confident that the author wasn’t just paying lip service to an idealized war after the fact.
The relationship between Dale and Kathryn itself was also well-written. It takes some time to develop, and didn’t feel rushed or unnatural—even though in wartime, hasty marriages were probably the norm. I think maybe Robinson let things get a little too saccharine and sentimental, but that’s probably just her style of portraying a romantic relationship. It’s not my style, but it’s fine.
I also appreciated that much of the tension throughout the book comes not from Kathryn and Dale’s interpersonal issues, but from the very fact that they’re falling in love during a war. This was the right move, I think. WWII is dramatic enough without adding in unnecessary Dark Secrets or Hidden Pasts or what have you. As it was, Diary of a War Bride had plenty of action, and I think that the difficulty the protagonists had in getting to and staying in the same place for any length of time was a great way to highlight the confusion and difficulty of staying in touch (with anyone!) amidst an active war zone. Letters were lost, messages misdelivered, and rendezvous forgotten.
All in all, this was a pretty satisfying, enjoyable book. It certainly didn’t rock my world, but it didn’t need to. Diary of a War Bride was a quick, pleasant read that I have very little complaints about.
