Jeannine Ricou-allunis

Memoir of a French War Bride Jeannine Ricou-allunis

Paris, September 3, 1939: fifteen-year old, Jeannine Ricou heard the bells ringing throughout the city that signaled the beginning of World War II. Her privileged life was about to change forever. The hardships of war replaced the comforts of her former life. She joined the French Resistance and aided in undermining the enemy. With the Liberation, came the American soldier she would fall in love with and marry. When Jeannine's new husband sent her home to America with their toddler, she was pregnant again. In America, she taught herself to speak English by reading comic books and struggled to understand the cruelty and alcoholism of her in-laws. When her husband returned home, Jeannine discovered he had a violent and unpredictable temper. The pain was just beginning.