The Ship of Brides

Shortlisted for the 2005 RNA Novel of the Year award, a moving and gorgeously-written book from Jojo Moyes, based on a true story.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Me Before You and the new 2023 novel Someone Else's Shoes.

Australia, 1946. 650 brides are departing for England to meet the men they married in wartime. But instead of the luxury liner they were expecting, they find themselves aboard an aircraft carrier, alongside a thousand men.

On the sun-baked decks, old loves and past promises become distant memories, and tensions are stretched to the limit as brides and husbands change their minds. And for Frances Mackenzie, one bride in particular, it soon becomes clear that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.