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Marriages Are Made in Bond Street

True Stories from a 1940s Marriage Bureau

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Marriages Are Made in Bond Street

By: Penrose Halson
Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
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In the spring of 1939, with the Second World War looming, two determined twenty-four-year-olds, Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver, decided to open a marriage bureau. They found a tiny office on London's Bond Street and set about the delicate business of match-making. Drawing on the bureau's extensive archives, Penrose Halson - who many years later found herself the proprietor of the bureau - tells their story, and those of their clients. We meet a remarkable cross-section of British society in the 1940s: gents with a 'merry twinkle', potential fifth-columnists, nervous spinsters, isolated farmers seeking 'a nice quiet affekshunate girl' and girls looking 'exactly' like Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh, all desperately longing to find 'The One'. And thanks to Heather and Mary, they almost always did just that.

A riveting glimpse of life and love during and after the war, Marriages Are Made in Bond Street is a heart-warming, touching and thoroughly absorbing account of a world gone by.

 Marriage & Long-Term Partnerships Political Science Politics & Government Relationships Heartfelt Marriage War
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Critic reviews

I thought this was going to be a frivolous romp through the frolicks of wartime matchmaking and, indeed, it is a book full of charm and hilarity, written in a no-nonsense style by an accomplished writer and storyteller, but it adds up to far more than that.
The makers of Call The Midwife need look no further for their next television project.
Glimpse into the matchmaking world of 1940s London with this delightful book.
An absorbing story . . . the book crackles with insights into the mores of those times.
A fascinating account
All stars
Most relevant
Beautifully read and wonderful story. I loved it. i just felt a little cheated at the end, as there was a long list of write ups from the letters/interviewers but no "conclusion" as such.

LOVELY

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A good book, a great insight into the era. Exceptional detail. It did go on a bit!

Evocative

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Engaging, cosy story of a successful 1930s Marriage agency start up.

From the owners’ story, the book moves into individual customers marriage stories. Gets a bit ‘bitty’ as the stories generally can’t connect (how could they?).

Also customer’s and the bureau’s class, race and religion labels are repeated without judgement. Hmmm. Not sure if half of them needed to be repeated - It feels some are included for shock value, not a whole picture. Hence a star taken off.
Overall, a very good listen despite this.

Thoroughly enjoyed

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