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The War Bride's Scrapbook
A World War II love story, narrated through a new bride’s dazzling array of vintage postcards, newspaper clippings, photographs, and more Lila Jerome has never been very lucky in love, and has always been more interested in studying architecture and, more recently, supporting the war bond effort on the home front. But in the fall of 1943, a chance spark with a boarder in her apartment sets Lila on a course that shakes up all of her ideas about romance. Lila is intoxicated by Perry Weld, the charismatic army engineer who’s about to ship out to the European front, and it isn’t long before she discovers that the feeling is mutual. After just a few weeks together, caught up in the dramatic spirit of the times and with Perry’s departure date fast approaching, the two decide to elope. In a stunning kaleidoscope of vibrant ephemera, Lila boldly attempts to redefine her life in America as she navigates the heartache and longing of a marriage separated by ocean and war. In her second scrapbook novel after the lauded Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, Caroline Preston has once again pulled from her own extraordinary collection of vintage memorabilia, transporting us back to the lively, tumultuous 1940s and introducing us to an unforgettable, ambitious heroine who must learn to reconcile a wartime marriage with a newfound self-confidence.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 5, 2017
9 people are currently reading
1010 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Preston
7 books270 followersAs a girl growing up in Lake Forest, Illinois, Caroline Preston used to pore through her grandmother’s and mother’s scrapbooks and started collecting antique scrapbooks when she was in high school. She attended Dartmouth College and received a master’s in American Civilization from Brown University. Inspired by her interest in manuscripts and ephemera, she worked as an archivist at the Peabody/Essex Museum and Harvard’s Houghton Library.
Preston is the author of three previous novels. Jackie by Josie, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was drawn from her (brief) researching stint for a Jackie O. biography. Gatsby’s Girl chronicles F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first girlfriend who was the model for Daisy Buchanan.
In The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, she has drawn from her own collection of vintage ephemera to create a novel in the unique form of a 1920’s scrapbook.
She lives with her husband, the writer Christopher Tilghman, in Charlottesville, Virginia and has three mostly grown-up sons.
Preston is the author of three previous novels. Jackie by Josie, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was drawn from her (brief) researching stint for a Jackie O. biography. Gatsby’s Girl chronicles F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first girlfriend who was the model for Daisy Buchanan.
In The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, she has drawn from her own collection of vintage ephemera to create a novel in the unique form of a 1920’s scrapbook.
She lives with her husband, the writer Christopher Tilghman, in Charlottesville, Virginia and has three mostly grown-up sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
December 19, 2017
3.5 A story told with letters, scrapbook items, postcards, advertisements, and other items painting picture of a life and a war. Lila was never the pretty one, that was her sister, she was chubby, not socially adept. She goes to college where she briefly meets Perry. Years later a slimmer more confident Lila, connects with him again, when she rents him a room in her apartment. They will marry five days before Perry is sent overseas to fight in the second world war.
We follow Lila, living life without Perry, rations and victory gardens. We read from his letters how he is faring in the war. We see before and after, what happens to them both. I enjoyed this, it was fun, though I didn't particularly care for any of the people, well except for Wink, Perry's father. Seeing all the old products advertised, reading about the times from both sides. Interesting, loved all the pictures and the memorabilia, what was considered important in a life. I can't say it was nostalgia since I didn't live through that time, but this was a visual glimpse of a very horrific and uncertain time in our history.
ARC from Edelweiss.
We follow Lila, living life without Perry, rations and victory gardens. We read from his letters how he is faring in the war. We see before and after, what happens to them both. I enjoyed this, it was fun, though I didn't particularly care for any of the people, well except for Wink, Perry's father. Seeing all the old products advertised, reading about the times from both sides. Interesting, loved all the pictures and the memorabilia, what was considered important in a life. I can't say it was nostalgia since I didn't live through that time, but this was a visual glimpse of a very horrific and uncertain time in our history.
ARC from Edelweiss.
January 21, 2018
As with her other book, “The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt”, this one is beautifully crafted with attractive text, photos, and illustrations. It’s just like reading a scrapbook. The story is compelling and so realistic that towards the end, I had to check to see if it may have even been partially based on a true story (it wasn’t). I do love Caroline Preston’s scrapbooks, although I prefer “The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt” over this one. They would make lovely gifts, and would also be perfect for reluctant readers or if you're in a reading rut.
March 25, 2018
Like The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, I enjoyed the way the author used bits of historical ephemera to tell the story of a hasty World War II marriage. What I didn't like so much? The ending. I know, technically, this isn't a romance novel. But I go from the happy glow of lovers reunited to...the cold, hard reality that post-war life wasn't sunny and rosy for them. Is this realistic? Yes. Did I want to read about it? Not really. It left me feeling sad, and a bit sorry for the couple. Now I'm off to read a romance novel because dammit, now I need some happy.
February 19, 2019
I love books that are formatted to be told through postcards, letters, notes and photos. This story is mainly correspondence exchanged between a Soldier and his War Bride during WW II. What makes this book so wonderful is not only it's visual appeal and the fact it is clearly a labor of love, but the writing of the actual novel. I appreciate how the story-line is though provoking. I truly could not put this book down until I finished it. It was complex, and real, dark and yet hopeful. It was beautiful and I loved it. I'm eagerly awaiting Ms Preston's next book.
May 7, 2018
RATING: 3 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)
I picked up Caroline Preston's novel Jackie by Josie for $2 and really enjoyed it so have put Preston on must-read author list. This is the second scrapbook novel that Preston has written, but my first. I enjoyed the story and the idea but found it muddled at times. Without much information - written parts - you feel like you get just the surface of the story and not much characterization. I would read other scrapbooks by Preston but will have lower expectation in story.
(Review Not on Blog)
I picked up Caroline Preston's novel Jackie by Josie for $2 and really enjoyed it so have put Preston on must-read author list. This is the second scrapbook novel that Preston has written, but my first. I enjoyed the story and the idea but found it muddled at times. Without much information - written parts - you feel like you get just the surface of the story and not much characterization. I would read other scrapbooks by Preston but will have lower expectation in story.
October 5, 2018
Growing up in Charlottesville, Virginia in the 1940s, Lila Jerome has always felt like an outsider: not rich enough to hobnob with the Virginians from the University community, not pretty enough or thin enough to please her mother/catch a man and not male enough to study architecture. When the United States declares war on Japan, Lila's life changes forever. Her beautiful, svelte younger sister's husband ships out in the Navy and sister and infant nephew move in. Lila meets the man-crazy Jinx who helps Lila lose weight and get a job at a USO club. Then Lila meets handsome architecture student Perry Weld. She is attracted to his passion for architecture, his humor and his good looks. He's a bit mysterious but that makes him all the more attractive. Lila is shocked when Perry proposes after knowing each other only a few weeks. She isn't going to let opportunity slip through her fingers and the only way to have him in her bed is to marry him. Plus he has been drafted and will soon head to Europe as an engineer going who knows where building bridges while the enemy shoots at him. After a blissful honeymoon, Perry leaves and Lila chronicles their letters, trinkets, gifts and Perry's wartime experiences in a scrapbook. By 1945 the world has changed and Lila has too. She's more grown-up and sophisticated but her passion remains strong.
I was attracted to this book for two reasons 1)as an archivist I loved the idea of using ephemera to tell a story and 2)my grandmother was a wartime bride and several years ago started to try to put together a scrapbook of my grandfather's time in the U.S. Army Air Corps. She now has dementia and finds it hard to remember her life with my late grandfather and I feel inspired by this novel to finish her scrapbook and tell their story. I can fill in the blanks with ephemera the way the author of this novel does.
The plot of the novel is captivating. I couldn't put it down. I have mixed feelings about the ending. It was bittersweet. I was hoping for corny, happily ever after novel ending but this way is more realistic. I could easily relate to Lila's feelings of not fitting in in her community and her family. I wanted her to feel loved and become successful at whatever she wanted to do. Perry is charming and I was rooting for them as a couple, however, I didn't like how much he drinks and smokes. I know that was super common back then so I can't tell if his drinking is too excessive. I don't care for Lila's family any more than she does. Her mother is kind of abusive with her focus on material wealth and Lila's looks. From Lila's perspective all her mother cares about is money and social status and the thing that will get her daughters the life she always dreamed of is a man. I'd run screaming from the house ASAP if I were Lila. Her sister Holly is much like their mother. I don't see Holly's relationship with her husband as being true love. It's a marriage of convenience unlike Lila and Perry. Her son will go on to perpetuate the old boys club as a southern gentleman.
Lila's friends are a mixed bag. I don't like her first roommate Jinx. Jinx lives the high life while her forgotten husband is overseas missing her. Jinx is a free spirit who only thinks of herself. I could relate better to Kat. Kat has more in common with Lila but she's more worldly, sophisticated and cynical. In short, Kat is very modern! Kat also encourages Lila's dreams. Alice is lovely. She is a survivor and an inspiration.
Perry's friends are also a mixed bag. He really liked Dilly but I found Dilly's escapades in Paris absolutely revolting. He is a nice young man but his morals are lacking. I did not like the slick salesman from Pasadena. He's is too much of the world Lila's mother envies and exactly the type of man Mrs. Jerome would want Lila to marry. Still, those men go through a lot together and they'll always have that bond. My grandfather knew a man like Dilly who looked back at those days fondly and hosted a reunion website. My grandfather was more like Perry. He just wanted to survive, go home to his wife and get back to normal.
I know Perry's New England roots and I know Cambridge and love the glimpse of 1940s Cambridge just as it had been for centuries. The landscape of Boston has changed a bit since then but I recognized the landmarks in the postcards. I quickly fell in love with Perry's quirky family and their home the way Lila did. Mimi is one of those women I can't stand but I do feel sorry for her a bit. I've known mothers like her. Wink is a dear. He drinks too much so I see where Perry learned his behavior but again I can't tell if it's too much for the period. Probably since Prohibition wasn't that long ago. Wink puts up with a lot from Mimi and he is a man of his generation when it comes to their relationship. I found this very sad.
The one thing I really didn't like about this novel is all the sex talk. It's clean enough- the reader isn't in the bedroom with Lila and Perry but she is open about what they did and when and how much they desired each other. I didn't think women of that generation would write about that kind of thing, not even to their husbands. My grandmother threw out the "mushy" letters so I don't know exactly WHAT my grandfather wrote! The letters she did save were a little "mushy" so maybe I have the wrong idea about that time period.
I highly recommend this to archivists and those who love to read about WWII, women's history and enjoy a good realistic romantic drama.
A++++++ for research and graphics.
I was attracted to this book for two reasons 1)as an archivist I loved the idea of using ephemera to tell a story and 2)my grandmother was a wartime bride and several years ago started to try to put together a scrapbook of my grandfather's time in the U.S. Army Air Corps. She now has dementia and finds it hard to remember her life with my late grandfather and I feel inspired by this novel to finish her scrapbook and tell their story. I can fill in the blanks with ephemera the way the author of this novel does.
The plot of the novel is captivating. I couldn't put it down. I have mixed feelings about the ending. It was bittersweet. I was hoping for corny, happily ever after novel ending but this way is more realistic. I could easily relate to Lila's feelings of not fitting in in her community and her family. I wanted her to feel loved and become successful at whatever she wanted to do. Perry is charming and I was rooting for them as a couple, however, I didn't like how much he drinks and smokes. I know that was super common back then so I can't tell if his drinking is too excessive. I don't care for Lila's family any more than she does. Her mother is kind of abusive with her focus on material wealth and Lila's looks. From Lila's perspective all her mother cares about is money and social status and the thing that will get her daughters the life she always dreamed of is a man. I'd run screaming from the house ASAP if I were Lila. Her sister Holly is much like their mother. I don't see Holly's relationship with her husband as being true love. It's a marriage of convenience unlike Lila and Perry. Her son will go on to perpetuate the old boys club as a southern gentleman.
Lila's friends are a mixed bag. I don't like her first roommate Jinx. Jinx lives the high life while her forgotten husband is overseas missing her. Jinx is a free spirit who only thinks of herself. I could relate better to Kat. Kat has more in common with Lila but she's more worldly, sophisticated and cynical. In short, Kat is very modern! Kat also encourages Lila's dreams. Alice is lovely. She is a survivor and an inspiration.
Perry's friends are also a mixed bag. He really liked Dilly but I found Dilly's escapades in Paris absolutely revolting. He is a nice young man but his morals are lacking. I did not like the slick salesman from Pasadena. He's is too much of the world Lila's mother envies and exactly the type of man Mrs. Jerome would want Lila to marry. Still, those men go through a lot together and they'll always have that bond. My grandfather knew a man like Dilly who looked back at those days fondly and hosted a reunion website. My grandfather was more like Perry. He just wanted to survive, go home to his wife and get back to normal.
I know Perry's New England roots and I know Cambridge and love the glimpse of 1940s Cambridge just as it had been for centuries. The landscape of Boston has changed a bit since then but I recognized the landmarks in the postcards. I quickly fell in love with Perry's quirky family and their home the way Lila did. Mimi is one of those women I can't stand but I do feel sorry for her a bit. I've known mothers like her. Wink is a dear. He drinks too much so I see where Perry learned his behavior but again I can't tell if it's too much for the period. Probably since Prohibition wasn't that long ago. Wink puts up with a lot from Mimi and he is a man of his generation when it comes to their relationship. I found this very sad.
The one thing I really didn't like about this novel is all the sex talk. It's clean enough- the reader isn't in the bedroom with Lila and Perry but she is open about what they did and when and how much they desired each other. I didn't think women of that generation would write about that kind of thing, not even to their husbands. My grandmother threw out the "mushy" letters so I don't know exactly WHAT my grandfather wrote! The letters she did save were a little "mushy" so maybe I have the wrong idea about that time period.
I highly recommend this to archivists and those who love to read about WWII, women's history and enjoy a good realistic romantic drama.
A++++++ for research and graphics.
September 13, 2022
The War Bride's Scrapbook is an interesting and creative way to tell a story. It is colorful and vibrant, bringing the past alive with images of ration stamps, propaganda posters, telegrams, etc. Letters are "pasted" in as well as type-written narrative describing the brief courtship of a young woman and her soldier husband and then their correspondence during the war. At the end there are a few pages describing what happened to the main characters and how the scrapbook was found by their daughters. These characters feel like real people and their problems are relatable.
November 24, 2017
A story about a war bride during WW2 told through graphics and letters and everything in between. A unique spin on novel writing, one I would be willing to explore again!
June 3, 2018
Very creative novel presented as a scrapbook of a young couples’ first married years during World War II.
June 28, 2025
Me gusta mucho la idea, y a pesar de lo que pensé al inicio es una historia realista y compleja. Lo que no me gusta es que no parece un scrapbook, tiene demasiado texto. Las cartas está bien, pero el texto que ella pone de más ya lo hace parecer más un diario. Además nadie escribe como autor poniendo los diálogos entrecomillados, siento que te saca mucho de contexto eso. No se, podría estar mucho mejor porque la idea es muy buena. Pero le dejo puntos porque esperaba que acabara muy ilógicamente rosita y la verdad no fue así.
February 26, 2018
Full review at: http://www.everydayiwritethebookblog....
The War Bride’s Scrapbook by Caroline Preston is a novel about a couple – Lila and Perry – who meet in Charlottesville, VA in 1943 a few weeks before Perry is due to ship out for World War II. After a very fast courtship, Perry proposes, and they elope in a “furlough marriage” in which they spend exactly three days together as husband and wife before he leaves for the war.
Lila decides to keep a scrapbook of their relationship, and The War Bride’s Scrapbook is exactly that – Lila and Perry’s relationship told through her diary entries, their letters back and forth, and a collection of real memorabilia (articles, postcards, photos, souvenirs, receipts, ads, trinkets, and much more) that help tell their story along with Lila.
Lila moves to Cambridge to live with Perry’s family after he leaves, and the book is as much about her gaining her independence and pursuing a career as it is about their relationship and Perry’s time in Europe. There is suspense throughout the book too, as you worry along with Lila about Perry’s safety as an engineer on the front lines against the Germans.
I loved The War Bride’s Scrapbook. I found myself reading it as slowly as possible just to draw out the experience. The scrapbook element is a lot of fun, as I spent as much time on each page studying the collage of artifacts as I did reading Lila’s story. Seeing all the minutiae really brought the story to life, much more so than just reading a diary. It’s also a pretty sad story, as Lila and Perry’s marriage doesn’t turn out to be the storybook romance she hoped for in the beginning. Don’t let the sunny photo on the cover fool you.
I highly recommend The War Bride’s Scrapbook, especially for people who enjoy historical fiction. Preston clearly invested a lot of time and research into this book (her second scrapbook novel) and it shows. What a treasure.
The War Bride’s Scrapbook by Caroline Preston is a novel about a couple – Lila and Perry – who meet in Charlottesville, VA in 1943 a few weeks before Perry is due to ship out for World War II. After a very fast courtship, Perry proposes, and they elope in a “furlough marriage” in which they spend exactly three days together as husband and wife before he leaves for the war.
Lila decides to keep a scrapbook of their relationship, and The War Bride’s Scrapbook is exactly that – Lila and Perry’s relationship told through her diary entries, their letters back and forth, and a collection of real memorabilia (articles, postcards, photos, souvenirs, receipts, ads, trinkets, and much more) that help tell their story along with Lila.
Lila moves to Cambridge to live with Perry’s family after he leaves, and the book is as much about her gaining her independence and pursuing a career as it is about their relationship and Perry’s time in Europe. There is suspense throughout the book too, as you worry along with Lila about Perry’s safety as an engineer on the front lines against the Germans.
I loved The War Bride’s Scrapbook. I found myself reading it as slowly as possible just to draw out the experience. The scrapbook element is a lot of fun, as I spent as much time on each page studying the collage of artifacts as I did reading Lila’s story. Seeing all the minutiae really brought the story to life, much more so than just reading a diary. It’s also a pretty sad story, as Lila and Perry’s marriage doesn’t turn out to be the storybook romance she hoped for in the beginning. Don’t let the sunny photo on the cover fool you.
I highly recommend The War Bride’s Scrapbook, especially for people who enjoy historical fiction. Preston clearly invested a lot of time and research into this book (her second scrapbook novel) and it shows. What a treasure.
January 2, 2018
This is not your typical WWII historical fiction novel. It is nothing like The Book Thief, The Nightingale, Code Name Verity, Salt to the Sea, etc. It is the story of the American homefront, a story with many similar elements to stories that my grandmother tells my sister and I about what life was like in Philadelphia during the Second World War. And, if you have a chance to flip through the pages of The War Bride’s Scrapbook, it is, in fact, a scrapbook. It is not laid out like a traditional novel and is beautiful in it’s full-color ephemera splendor.
While I am a frequent reader of graphic novels, this is my first “scrapbook” book and it is a format I would be excited to read again. The storytelling is done primarily with letters between Lila and Perry as most of the scrapbook is dedicated to their time apart during the war. At first I was concerned that I would find the pacing choppy, but it is clear that either Caroline Preston is, herself, an avid scrapbooker, or, more likely, an expert storyteller who can work her craft in a very unique medium.
Given that it is Lila’s scrapbook, we, the readers, get ample insight not only into her head-space during the war, but also of society’s as a whole as she remarks on the activities of her friends and family. Perry is a character of contradictions, which adds to the point that he and Lila barely knew/know each other. There are moments of laughter, particularly when characters come together out of need, necessity or shear coincidence. And, my post 2017 understanding of women’s rights feminist self is very excited about the fact that Lila is her own person, her own character, and is not reliant on Perry for her happiness.
While I am a frequent reader of graphic novels, this is my first “scrapbook” book and it is a format I would be excited to read again. The storytelling is done primarily with letters between Lila and Perry as most of the scrapbook is dedicated to their time apart during the war. At first I was concerned that I would find the pacing choppy, but it is clear that either Caroline Preston is, herself, an avid scrapbooker, or, more likely, an expert storyteller who can work her craft in a very unique medium.
Given that it is Lila’s scrapbook, we, the readers, get ample insight not only into her head-space during the war, but also of society’s as a whole as she remarks on the activities of her friends and family. Perry is a character of contradictions, which adds to the point that he and Lila barely knew/know each other. There are moments of laughter, particularly when characters come together out of need, necessity or shear coincidence. And, my post 2017 understanding of women’s rights feminist self is very excited about the fact that Lila is her own person, her own character, and is not reliant on Perry for her happiness.
February 27, 2019
This was a guilty pleasure. It all looked too sweet. The sweet drawings, the sweet scrapbook , the sweet letters between the war bride and her soldier - all very sweet and not my usual read but I truly enjoyed it! I have made a scrapbook of each family trip we have taken so I appreciate looking at memorabilia. I love the 1940's and the time during WWII and ate up all the info in actual pictures and drawings. The story is short and not too involved but included interesting aspects of life at that time - not just the romance. The clothing, menus and prices, GI Bill for housing and the models , hospital exercises for the wounded and the realistic marriage of a wounded soldier and his bride after the war all reminded me of the excellent movie along the same lines: The Best Years of Our Lives. After a long day at work, I enjoyed relaxing with this unique book.
January 15, 2018
Scrapbook format with WWII flavor... feels like an adult graphic novel that starts with a quicky 1943 marriage and works its way through the rest of the war and then some. I love books written in diary/letter/e-mail format, so this one was right up by my alley. Pictures, memorabilia, letters...the author got the inspiration for this one from what she used to find in her family attic in my home town. Maybe there's a story in all my family stuff that I have in the basement...
April 14, 2018
I really really appreciated the realistic ending, [vague spoiler] it's a bit of a bummer but it's so refreshing to have a realistic ending and not just sunshine and rainbows running off into the sunset etc etc.
I don't know if i could read a lot of books like this, but the scrapbook style was really fun and different. I'm going to give her other scrapbook novel a shot.
I don't know if i could read a lot of books like this, but the scrapbook style was really fun and different. I'm going to give her other scrapbook novel a shot.
July 6, 2019
Based on the reviews, I didn't think I would like this as much as The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, but I did! I will say it has much, much more text -- enough to truly read like a novel, or at least novella -- and fewer unique personal mementos on the pages. While it looks like one, it doesn't come across as much like a real scrapbook, even though the author takes pains to start with the premise of a woman discovering it hidden away in her late mother's closet, as well as making "The War Bride's Scrapbook" a specific item that Lila purchased in a department store, advertised as something to fill out while your new husband is away on the front.
There's far too much background on her early life and far too many entries that are more like a journal, which I would accept if they didn't also include far too many conversations that even a journal-keeper would not record in such detail. Additionally, some of the illustrations don't feel so much personally connected to Lila as they do Caroline Preston saying "hey everybody look at my 1940s paper ephemera collection that I gotta find a way to use more of."
There are also some Racy Bits, especially her wedding night -- not in graphic detail, but enough that I was like "WOW are you not aware that this is a book which visually would appeal to preteen children or...?" This includes some detail about a "marital advice" book and a nude sketch of Lila. Which I found out about upon happily showing off my shiny new scrapbook-book to my mother before I'd ever opened the cover.
HOWEVER: by the end of it, I did feel like Lila was a real person, maybe even one I'd known and gotten through the war with as a close personal friend who shared stories with me. I was totally enamored by Wink (her sweetheart of a father-in-law. Mimi, on the other hand, sucks). Even the ephemera that had seemed mere window dressing at first started to feel more relevant to her life, and I found myself flipping back to earlier pages to look at them again. I ended up getting so absorbed that when I was almost done and took a break, I struggled to remember what decade it was. Kind of wanted to stay in 1946. Felt safe. Felt like an economically sound time to be an adult.
I will say I went into this determined not to like Perry, both because I cheated and read spoilery reviews and because it is truly ridiculous to me that these idiots got married less than three weeks after meeting because they wanted to screw (this is actually spelled out in the text). And yet, I did grow fond of him after a certain amount of his letters home, finally seeing what Lila saw in him. I loved their shared interest in architecture, and was particularly giddy about the design of affordable postwar single-family suburban houses, which is my fourth favorite kind of house after the grand mansions of yesteryear, Victorians, and 1920s bungalows.
I also love that the book wraps up with a multi-part epilogue, including a detailed obituary, an overview of her life post-war, and a 1970s-era interview between mother and daughter about what a war-rushed marriage was like, before and after 1945. The open-ended ending of Frankie Pratt was nice, but so is this. Goodness knows this is exactly what I go scrounging for whenever I pick up a heavily-autographed yearbook at an estate sale, bond with an idea of this person who was so well liked by so many, and decide to set about seeing how their life turned out. I feel better for having all the answers, even if I might have wished some things were different.
There's far too much background on her early life and far too many entries that are more like a journal, which I would accept if they didn't also include far too many conversations that even a journal-keeper would not record in such detail. Additionally, some of the illustrations don't feel so much personally connected to Lila as they do Caroline Preston saying "hey everybody look at my 1940s paper ephemera collection that I gotta find a way to use more of."
There are also some Racy Bits, especially her wedding night -- not in graphic detail, but enough that I was like "WOW are you not aware that this is a book which visually would appeal to preteen children or...?" This includes some detail about a "marital advice" book and a nude sketch of Lila. Which I found out about upon happily showing off my shiny new scrapbook-book to my mother before I'd ever opened the cover.
HOWEVER: by the end of it, I did feel like Lila was a real person, maybe even one I'd known and gotten through the war with as a close personal friend who shared stories with me. I was totally enamored by Wink (her sweetheart of a father-in-law. Mimi, on the other hand, sucks). Even the ephemera that had seemed mere window dressing at first started to feel more relevant to her life, and I found myself flipping back to earlier pages to look at them again. I ended up getting so absorbed that when I was almost done and took a break, I struggled to remember what decade it was. Kind of wanted to stay in 1946. Felt safe. Felt like an economically sound time to be an adult.
I will say I went into this determined not to like Perry, both because I cheated and read spoilery reviews and because it is truly ridiculous to me that these idiots got married less than three weeks after meeting because they wanted to screw (this is actually spelled out in the text). And yet, I did grow fond of him after a certain amount of his letters home, finally seeing what Lila saw in him. I loved their shared interest in architecture, and was particularly giddy about the design of affordable postwar single-family suburban houses, which is my fourth favorite kind of house after the grand mansions of yesteryear, Victorians, and 1920s bungalows.
I also love that the book wraps up with a multi-part epilogue, including a detailed obituary, an overview of her life post-war, and a 1970s-era interview between mother and daughter about what a war-rushed marriage was like, before and after 1945. The open-ended ending of Frankie Pratt was nice, but so is this. Goodness knows this is exactly what I go scrounging for whenever I pick up a heavily-autographed yearbook at an estate sale, bond with an idea of this person who was so well liked by so many, and decide to set about seeing how their life turned out. I feel better for having all the answers, even if I might have wished some things were different.
January 2, 2024
88%
I typically don't read books set in the World War eras, because they tend to be horrendously depressing and I just don't need that in my life. What drew me to this book is that it's designed to look like a scrapbook, and as someone who loves collage and historical artefacts, I just had to see how the two would be meshed with a historical fiction story. I'm so glad I gave this work of art a chance!
This story (and its attached imagery) is simultaneously educational about the mundane details of life in that era and emotionally raw without being depressing. Reading a story from the perspective of a fairly average American woman during the war era was so refreshing; I find that usually authors draw the drama from this era from tragedy, loss, or violence, but the drama in this story was that of an average girl trying to live her life the best way she could given the resources at the time.
The last few pages really pulled the story together and jolted it into perspective.
I typically don't read books set in the World War eras, because they tend to be horrendously depressing and I just don't need that in my life. What drew me to this book is that it's designed to look like a scrapbook, and as someone who loves collage and historical artefacts, I just had to see how the two would be meshed with a historical fiction story. I'm so glad I gave this work of art a chance!
This story (and its attached imagery) is simultaneously educational about the mundane details of life in that era and emotionally raw without being depressing. Reading a story from the perspective of a fairly average American woman during the war era was so refreshing; I find that usually authors draw the drama from this era from tragedy, loss, or violence, but the drama in this story was that of an average girl trying to live her life the best way she could given the resources at the time.
The last few pages really pulled the story together and jolted it into perspective.
May 26, 2023
2.5 stars. Don't let that cover or summary fool you: this is not a romance and there is no happy ending. It is a rather fascinating look at the American home front during WWII, a "novel in pictures" which basically means its a great big collage. I thought it would be more tactile, but alas no. The pages are all flat, which was also a bit of a disappointment for me.
Reading this book was like being Charlene Stillfield in Season 5 of Designing Women, her WWII fantasy bubbles being burst by her living through the hell of having a husband at war. It's also a disconcerting read in 2023, because it seems like WWII Europe is one of the "hot" historical settings for all genres of fiction. I've never found war to be particularly compelling on its own, nor have I felt especially patriotic or swanned on about "The Greatest Generation." What that generation of people lived through was absolute hell. Two gigantic wars sandwiching a global pandemic followed by economic depression. Frighteningly prescient for these post-pandemic 21st century times.
Though I didn't really care for Lila (the main female character), and really disliked the ending, there were some bright spots - like Perry's father, Wink. I enjoyed the format of the book and will definitely keep an eye out at the library (where I found this one) for the author's other scrapbook novels.
Reading this book was like being Charlene Stillfield in Season 5 of Designing Women, her WWII fantasy bubbles being burst by her living through the hell of having a husband at war. It's also a disconcerting read in 2023, because it seems like WWII Europe is one of the "hot" historical settings for all genres of fiction. I've never found war to be particularly compelling on its own, nor have I felt especially patriotic or swanned on about "The Greatest Generation." What that generation of people lived through was absolute hell. Two gigantic wars sandwiching a global pandemic followed by economic depression. Frighteningly prescient for these post-pandemic 21st century times.
Though I didn't really care for Lila (the main female character), and really disliked the ending, there were some bright spots - like Perry's father, Wink. I enjoyed the format of the book and will definitely keep an eye out at the library (where I found this one) for the author's other scrapbook novels.
January 30, 2020
Requested this from the library after looking into the author’s other scrapbook novel. I was looking for a book for our March book club theme and had only planned to flip through this and see if it would work. I was instantly hooked. Though the characters are fictional (something I wasn’t sure about while reading it), it was filled with real ephemera and pictures. I was quite taken in and couldn’t help but think about my uncles who served in WWII and what their stories were during and right after the war.
March 16, 2018
This was a fun way to tell a story. I was admittedly a little disappointed that there was nothing 3D in this "scrapbook", but obviously any 3D effects would get torn apart for any poor library copies, so it makes sense. I was definitely disappointed in the perhaps too real ending, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
February 29, 2020
I found the format of this novel enhanced the story line. Having sketches and replications of book covers and menus and pamphlets, to me, made Lila’s and Perry’s wartime romance, marriage, and initial life together immensely readable and relatable.
October 24, 2023
3.75 rounded up.
I thought the ending was out of nowhere and tonally dissonant from the rest of the book, but the fascinating way that this book was presented means that it didn't sting quite as much. That's how well-done the scrapbook angle is.
I thought the ending was out of nowhere and tonally dissonant from the rest of the book, but the fascinating way that this book was presented means that it didn't sting quite as much. That's how well-done the scrapbook angle is.
Want to read
January 16, 2018I rec'd this to review in print and I can't wait to dive into it. What a fun idea for a novel to be told in scrapbook style.
September 17, 2018
I am so mesmerized by this. The ephemera is so fun, the historical context is illuminating, and the story-telling is captivating.
December 28, 2018
This is such a cool book. I love the way the author used a scrapbook to tell a story.
January 25, 2022
This format was interesting and different! I liked it
December 23, 2017
I've not read any of Caroline Preston's previous books (apparently similar to this one), and was intrigued by the concept of a story told through ephemera. This is more an epistolary story, told mostly through letters between the lovebirds, and typed diary entries, with the ephemera playing more an illustrative role. The romance angle was more straightforward and less involved than I expected. It kind felt like the story was sacrificed for the sake of the gimmick.
January 5, 2026
This was honestly a really hard read, and if you read it, you will get it
April 5, 2018
2 for the story, 4 for the amazing scrapbook format, averaged out. This book is utterly and completely gorgeous. I am in love with all the photos, images, details of homefront life. I definitely need to own it.
But yeah, the story pales to the format. Lila, our scrapbooker, is pretty bland. I wished she and Perry had used their two years of letters and separation to get to know each other, or that those letters were included so we could get to know them. It had a realistic ending for a "furlough" marriage, but that was, at the same time, frustrating and sad. I feel like we got to know both Lila and Perry much better in the two page transcript of her conversation with her daughter, and I wish there had been more characterization pulled throughout the book.
Also, it totally made me want to scrapbook.
But yeah, the story pales to the format. Lila, our scrapbooker, is pretty bland. I wished she and Perry had used their two years of letters and separation to get to know each other, or that those letters were included so we could get to know them. It had a realistic ending for a "furlough" marriage, but that was, at the same time, frustrating and sad. I feel like we got to know both Lila and Perry much better in the two page transcript of her conversation with her daughter, and I wish there had been more characterization pulled throughout the book.
Also, it totally made me want to scrapbook.
December 20, 2017
What I absolutely love about Preston's scrapbook novels is how they combine the idealized life of the times with the reality of what was going on - which was, in short, not ideal. I'm a little tired of historical fiction about WWII, but this one is a standout, mostly, because it doesn't end with V-Day or a reunion on home shores. Our war bride has to deal with consequences of war and with the man she married after knowing him only a few weeks, and to build her post-war life. Particularly poignant for me was, at the end, when she's being interviewed by her daughter for a college course, and her daughter comes across a bit aggressive at her mother's life choices. But our war bride knows the truth.
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