Talk of Many Things: Further Recollections of a G.I. War Bride

In her fourth book of memoirs, Margaret Wharton continues her G.I. bride reminiscences as she paints a picture of life in England before, during, and after World War II. Emphasizing the years from her arrival in the United States until her retirement in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she tells of her initial homesickness as she is assimilated into a new way of life and describes her years as a housewife in a small suburban town as she raises two sons and resumes her teaching career. She relates the many travels that she and her husband made together, the accounts taken from the detailed journals she assiduously kept of the trips. She also tells something of the Southern family she married into and goes on to talk of the retirement life she and her husband lead in Chapel Hill. Her book is a highly polished piece of work comprising an ingenious blend of people, places, history, geography, and literature. Mrs. Wharton has a vast knowledge of history and excellent control of language along with a vivid descriptive flair. She reproduces her experiences with clarity and conviction. Talk of Many Things offers a colorful, informative, and individual account of a unique experience shared by a number of young women, not only from England, but from many other countries, in the immediate post war years.