At the end of WW II, in an Atlantic crossing filled with anticipation and anxiety, some 50,000 war brides emigrated from Britain and Europe to Canada. Leaving familiar homelands for a new country, a new life and new husbands scarred by the experience of war, they brought different lifestyles and cultures. The dual heritage bestowed on the children of those wartime marriages made 'home' a difficult place to define. After years of wondering why her mother seemed so inherently different from other moms, author A. S. Penne set out to explore her background. Behind the search was a "niggling feeling" that, despite her Canadian nationality, perhaps England was her 'real' home. Penne embarks on an up-close and personal journey to investigate the abandonment of her mother's upper-class background for a very working-class life with a Canadian RCAF pilot. Through a series of interviews with her parents and careful readings of historical documents and letters, the author probes the story of a marriage that almost ended in tragedy before it began. In the end, Penne does indeed find home, but in a place she least expects it.
