Captured Hearts

Melynda Jarratt and Zoe Boone return to Glasgow to tell us more about the experiences of British and European women caught up in the dramatic reality of war who fell in love with and married soldiers from a foreign country. When the war ends, they leave behind all they’ve ever known — family, friends, and way of life — for a new life in Canada. Arriving in a mainly rural country, these city girls faced culture shock, and social, religious and linguistic differences that would have tested the mettle of many relationships.

More than sixty years later, their stories paint a compelling portrait of love, passion, perseverance, and hope in a world torn apart by war.

Join us for readings from the author, alongside short exerts from “The Forgotten Brides” documentary and the chance to hear from Mrs Boone, a real life war bride. Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event and have signed.

Thursday 26 May, 6pm to 7.30pm

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Melynda Jarratt is a leading authority on Canadian War Brides of World War Two. She was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada. Melynda obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in 1986 and wrote her Masters Thesis in History in 1995 on New Brunswick War Brides. She went on to obtain a diploma in Digital Media and Design in 1999. Melynda is the co-author of Voices of the Left Behind (Dundurn 2005) which was a Book of the Month Club selection. In 2007 she wrote War Brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved (Tempus 2007 / re-released by Canada’s Dundurn Press in May 2009). In October 2008 Goose Lane Editions released her latest book, Captured Hearts: New Brunswick’s War Brides as part of UNB’s Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society NB Military Heritage Series. Melynda runs the authoritative website on Canada’s War Brides www. CanadianWarBrides.com and appears frequently in the media, on television, radio and film as a subject matter expert. She is currently writing a biography of Don Chapman, the leader of the Lost Canadians – Canadian born citizens and foreign born children of Canadians, such as War Bride children, who were stripped of their citizenship due to outdated provisions of the 1947 Citizenship Act. She is also writing another book on the Canadian Forestry Corps in Scotland in World War Two for which she has received financial support from the New Brunswick Arts Board.

Mrs. Isobel Boone was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1922. She fell in love and married a Canadian serviceman, Cpl. Marshall Boone, of Rowena, New Brunswick (population 100). Marshall was taken Prisoner of War in Sicily and after he was liberated they married. Mrs. Boone moved to Canada in 1946 and his lived in Rowena ever since. She and Marshall had two children, Gordon and Stephen, and after her husband passed away she became involved with the New Brunswick War Brides Association, eventually holding the position of President. Mrs. Boone speaks frequently to groups and organizations about her experiences as a Canadian War Bride. She appears in Melynda Jarratt’s two books on War Brides as well as the documentary film “Forgotten Brides”.