"First published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company, 2005"--Back of title page.

Sydney, Australia, 1946. Four women join 650 other war brides on a voyage to England aboard HMS Victoria, which still carries arms and aircraft as well as a thousand naval officers. Rules are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier's captain down to the lowliest young deckhand. But the men and the brides will find their lives intertwined despite the Navy's ironclad sanctions. And for Frances Mackenzie, the complicated young woman whose past comes back to haunt her far from home, the journey will change her life forever.