Marriages are made in Bond Street by Penrose Halson.

                 Marriages Are Made in Bond Street by Penrose Halson.

"The men come over here, the girls are already here, they all want to get together but they never meet! Let's introduce them-let's start a marriage agency."

It's spring, 1939 just before the war started. Two young women, both twenty-four, Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver decided to open a marriage bureau in Bond Street, London. The book by Halson celebrates ten years of matching couples during a difficult period in English history. Many years later, Halson found herself proprietor of the Katherine Allen Marriage and Advice Bureau (1986). In 1992 it had incorporated Heather Jenner's agency. Her source came partly from Jenner's daughter, Stella Sykes who had archived her mother's copious notes as well as three books on marriage, two by Jenner and one by Mary Oliver collaborating with Mary Benedetta.

The stories are interesting and true with name changes, naturally. Mary Oliver (formerly Audrey Parson) was the imaginative and romantic one whereas Heather (formerly Lyon) was more practical and logical. Establishing a marriage bureau was a complicated business. After consulting a solicitor who thought the idea bonkers assumed it was "some kind of superior West End brothel." Their friends disapproved informing them that they would end up behind bars "for white slave trafficking or prostitution." The Bureau was regarded  as a suspicious-sounding organisation by the quality papers and would remain so for the next fifty years.

Set against the backdrop of impending war, gloomy world news dominated the media so "cheerful, upbeat stories" of romance and marriage along with their happy ever afters helped to advertise and promote the work of the Bureau. Business boomed in spite of the declaration of war and the Blitz. Around this time, there were three hundred applications in one day. By December 1946 the Bureau had made almost 2,000 marriages. Eighteen months later this had risen to nearly 3,000.

Post-war life was dreary and rationing continued. Halson suggested that the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten had a positive and well-needed effect, prompting people to seek spouses. The book is insightful in creating some vivid and traumatic stories of loss, rape, unmarried young mothers shunned by families and society and far too many men suffering from post-traumatic stress, not recognised then and not treated.

There are many memorable stories which you can read about yourselves. Teddy's story is exceptional: "He had killed and escaped and starved and dared more in his short life than almost everybody in their entire lives." Teddy, real name Tadeusz Nedza was 23, born in Krakow, thin and gangly.

"I am coming to you but not because I am sex-starved. I am luff-starved. I vant a vife to luff and to luff me."

In January 1939 he joined the Polish Army trained in Morse Code so that he could intercept German messages. He was captured when the Germans invaded Poland. He did escape but was recaptured days later. An exploding hand grenade damaged his legs badly but they were saved. He escaped from the hospital and tricked a German Gestapo who fell into the icy river and died. He outwitted guard dogs and wolves, surviving sub-zero temperatures as he headed to Hungary. From there he trekked through Serbia into France. We are told he was in a bad way by then:

" emaciated from malnutrition and sea-sickness."

When the driver was killed by a bomb, Teddy was forced into driving the car. There were refugees pushing carts containing old, dying people and animals starving. He finally reached Liverpool in June 1940 and was looked after by the Salvation Army.

Cyril was an RAF pilot who had been badly burnt. He'd had partial reconstruction on his face and body. He had high hopes of settling in one of the colonies after the war. Cora Church had been completely blind for ten years until a revolutionary operation restored her sight. When the couple were matched, Coral had serious reservations because Cyril didn't look normal. She agreed to a date and he took her to a music hall to see Hattie Jacques. This went down so well that they soon became a happy couple. So many interesting but tragic accounts but oh so many happy endings. Isn't this what it's all about? "Sun, fun, food and security beckoned beguilingly."Enjoy your reading.

Publisher: Pan Books.   ISBN: 978-1-5098-2242-3

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

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