Five Brides

I did not know that when I began reading this book that I was going to need a score card to keep up with all of the characters.

Betty and Patrick
Joan and Robert
Inga and Axel
Magda and Barry
Evelyn and Edwin

The five girls begin as roommates and slowly settle in together into their jobs and into their combined friendships. On a rare day, they were all off work and all enjoying an afternoon together, and as they were walking downtown, they see a wedding dress in a store window. They all try it on, and decide to pitch in and buy it. It will be the dress for each of their weddings. Betty was going to be the keeper of the dress and each girl who wore it would have it cleaned after the wedding and returned to Betty. Whoever married last got to keep the dress and hand it down to her daughters or granddaughters. The story opens and closes with Evelyn's daughter telling HER daughter the story of the dress.

The only story that kept me a bit confused was Joan and Robert's story, but it cleared itself up for me in jig time. Eva Marie Everson has taken a post-war world and turned it on its side with five independent, modern women who are trying to take their world by storm. Through their work they all happen to meet the men who seem to be the men of their dreams, and except for Inga, those meetings turn into lifetime commitments. The way Eva Marie Everson has meshed all five of these couples' love stories together makes an entertaining read. In spite of the sheer number of characters, Eva Marie has been able to develop them into complex people who live real lives and have real problems that are universal to nearly all women, and yet they somehow seem to survive and thrive. Each of their episodes become a living testament to their integrity, their ingenuity, and their indomitable spirits.

I have to give this book five stars, two thumbs up, and a wedding dress to share with your four best friends.

Tyndale House is to be thanked for allowing me to read and review this book. My only obligation was to give my honest opinion.