
The Marriage Bureau
The True Story of How Two Matchmakers Arranged Love in Wartime London
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jane Copland
-
By:
-
Penrose Halson
About this listen
A riveting glimpse of life and love during and after World War II - a heartwarming, touching, and thoroughly absorbing true story of a world gone by.
In the spring of 1939, with the Second World War looming, two determined 24-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 matchmaking. Drawing on the bureau's extensive archives, Penrose Halson - who many years later found herself the proprietor of the bureau - tells their story and the stories of their clients.
From shopgirls to debutantes, widowers to war veterans, clients came in search of security, social acceptance, or simply love. And thanks to the meticulous organization and astute intuition of the bureau's matchmakers, most found what they were looking for.
Penrose Halson draws from newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, and interviews with the proprietors themselves to bring the romance and heartbreak of matchmaking during wartime to vivid, often hilarious life in this unforgettable story of a most unusual business.
©2017 Penrose Halson (P)2017 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Delightful historical fiction
- By Kindle Customer on 01-01-23
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Only Woman in the Room
- By: Marie Benedict
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.
-
-
incredible true story about heddy Lamar
- By S. Loew on 01-26-19
By: Marie Benedict
-
The Beantown Girls
- By: Jane Healey
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1944: Fiona Denning has her entire future planned out. She’ll work in city hall, marry her fiancé when he returns from the war, and settle down in the Boston suburbs. But when her fiancé is reported missing after being shot down in Germany, Fiona’s long-held plans are shattered. Determined to learn her fiancé’s fate, Fiona leaves Boston to volunteer overseas as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl, recruiting her two best friends to come along. There’s the outspoken Viviana, who is more than happy to quit her secretarial job for a taste of adventure.
-
-
Interesting history, just not my cup of tea
- By Amy Hammond Hagberg on 04-03-19
By: Jane Healey
-
In Sight of the Mountain
- By: Jamie McGillen
- Narrated by: Sarah Brands
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the devastating aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, 19-year-old Anna Gallagher faces considerable pressure to marry well and soon. But she has no intention of giving up her freedom to keep house. She wants to be the first woman to summit Mount Rainier. Anna's grandfather couldn't disapprove more. And after he discovers that she's befriended a Duwamish woman in the forest, he threatens to disown her completely.
-
-
Beautifully Written
- By Megan Rice on 06-05-20
By: Jamie McGillen
-
The Light of Days
- The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos
- By: Judy Batalion
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most important stories of World War II, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture: a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters - a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now.
-
-
A profoundly moving book
- By Brian R Smith on 04-18-21
By: Judy Batalion
-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist - the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind.
-
-
A well-written panorama of human tragedy
- By Film Fan on 07-03-21
By: Rachel Joyce
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Delightful historical fiction
- By Kindle Customer on 01-01-23
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Only Woman in the Room
- By: Marie Benedict
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.
-
-
incredible true story about heddy Lamar
- By S. Loew on 01-26-19
By: Marie Benedict
-
The Beantown Girls
- By: Jane Healey
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1944: Fiona Denning has her entire future planned out. She’ll work in city hall, marry her fiancé when he returns from the war, and settle down in the Boston suburbs. But when her fiancé is reported missing after being shot down in Germany, Fiona’s long-held plans are shattered. Determined to learn her fiancé’s fate, Fiona leaves Boston to volunteer overseas as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl, recruiting her two best friends to come along. There’s the outspoken Viviana, who is more than happy to quit her secretarial job for a taste of adventure.
-
-
Interesting history, just not my cup of tea
- By Amy Hammond Hagberg on 04-03-19
By: Jane Healey
-
In Sight of the Mountain
- By: Jamie McGillen
- Narrated by: Sarah Brands
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the devastating aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, 19-year-old Anna Gallagher faces considerable pressure to marry well and soon. But she has no intention of giving up her freedom to keep house. She wants to be the first woman to summit Mount Rainier. Anna's grandfather couldn't disapprove more. And after he discovers that she's befriended a Duwamish woman in the forest, he threatens to disown her completely.
-
-
Beautifully Written
- By Megan Rice on 06-05-20
By: Jamie McGillen
-
The Light of Days
- The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos
- By: Judy Batalion
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most important stories of World War II, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture: a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters - a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now.
-
-
A profoundly moving book
- By Brian R Smith on 04-18-21
By: Judy Batalion
-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist - the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind.
-
-
A well-written panorama of human tragedy
- By Film Fan on 07-03-21
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Shrines of Gaiety
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Jason Watkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within.
-
-
Rich characters of all stripes
- By Glorious Lorius on 11-09-22
By: Kate Atkinson
-
A Dangerous Fortune
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1866, tragedy strikes the exclusive Windfield School when a young student drowns in a mysterious accident. His death and its aftermath initiate a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many lives. From the exclusive men’s clubs and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London’s upper class to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world’s wealth, one family is splintered by a shared legacy.
-
-
Predictable Fun
- By Rebecarol on 05-24-08
By: Ken Follett
-
Life After Life
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.
-
-
Strange & Fascinating
- By Sara on 11-02-15
By: Kate Atkinson
-
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed.
-
-
Great! From the first page to the last.....
- By L.W. on 03-30-13
-
War Brides
- By: Helen Bryan
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As war moves ever closer, the sleepy English village of Crowmarsh Priors settles into a new sort of normal: Evacuees from London are billeted in local homes. The nightly German air raids become grimly mundane. Rationing curtails every comfort. Men leave to fight and die. And five women forge a bond of friendship that will change their lives forever in this engrossing novel of loyalty, loss, and love in the shadow of World War II.With the hardships of war intensifying every day, the women band together to defeat formidable enemies and find remarkable strength within themselves to help one another. It is a war-forged loyalty certain to endure years and distance. When four of the women return for a celebration fifty years later, their mission is not simply to commemorate or remember. They’ve returned to confront a traitor whose actions cost countless lives — and to avenge one of their own at last.
-
-
Ruined by Narration
- By Sara on 08-28-14
By: Helen Bryan
-
The Summer Before the War
- A Novel
- By: Helen Simonson
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England's brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha's husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won't come to anything.
-
-
Divine Book Club Listening
- By Gillian on 03-24-16
By: Helen Simonson
-
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
- A Novel
- By: Kathleen Rooney
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk. As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents to be in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest paid advertising woman in America - a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.
-
-
Lillian takes a stroll down memory lane!
- By Iris Pereyra on 01-29-17
By: Kathleen Rooney
-
My Story
- By: Caroline Cossey
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caroline "Tula" Cossey was born with male genitalia but went on to become a beautiful woman with a successful modeling career. My Story is Tula's candid thought-provoking, enlightening, humorous, heart wrenching, and motivational account of her struggles: her troubled childhood being bullied and taunted in East Anglia, her dreams of becoming a woman, the operations that liberated her sexually, and the journey from showgirl to James Bond girl to top international model.
-
-
Great Audiobook
- By Kristofer R Rasmussen on 10-23-15
By: Caroline Cossey
-
The Two of Us
- My Life with John Thaw
- By: Sheila Hancock
- Narrated by: Sheila Hancock
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When John Thaw, star of The Sweeney and Inspector Morse, died from cancer in 2002, a nation lost one of its finest actors and Sheila Hancock lost a beloved husband. In this unique double biography she chronicles their lives - personal and professional, together and apart. John Thaw was born in Manchester, the son of a lorry driver. When he arrived at RADA on a scholarship he felt an outsider. In fact his timing was perfect: it was the sixties and television was beginning to make its mark.
-
-
sad and enthralling
- By Steve on 03-17-12
By: Sheila Hancock
-
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris and Mrs. Harris Goes to New York
- The Adventures of Mrs. Harris
- By: Paul Gallico
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant's wardrobe, she comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen in her life—a Dior dress. In all the years of her drab and humble existence, she's never seen anything as magical as the dress before her and she's never wanted anything as much before. Determined to make her dream come true, Mrs. Harris scrimps, saves, and slaves away until one day, after three long, uncomplaining years, she finally has enough money to go to Paris.
-
-
A story of its time
- By Ella Quent on 02-15-23
By: Paul Gallico
-
Bittersweet
- By: Colleen McCullough
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Together they decide to enroll in a training program for nurses - a new option for women of their time who have previously been largely limited to the role of wives, and preferably mothers. As the Latimer sisters become immersed in hospital life and the demands of their training, they meet people and encounter challenges that spark new maturity and independence.
-
-
1920s Australia
- By Jean on 09-04-14
-
The Designer
- By: Marius Gabriel
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1944, newly married Copper Reilly arrives in Paris soon after the liberation. While the city celebrates its freedom, she's stuck in the prison of an unhappy marriage. When her husband commits one betrayal too many, Copper demands a separation. Alone in Paris, she finds an unlikely new friend: an obscure, middle-aged designer from the back rooms of a decaying fashion house whose timid nature and reluctance for fame clash with the bold brilliance of his designs. His name is Christian Dior.
-
-
Copper Is A Feminist Before It Was Cool—1944!
- By Linda on 10-18-17
By: Marius Gabriel
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The Marriage Bureau
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lecie
- 05-12-20
A TV series?
I foresee a British TV series in this book’s future. I certainly hope so. It is an endearing cross between Call the Midwife and Home Fires. I look forward to it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MJR
- 03-11-20
Delightful
A good story and a lovely read. I read a lot of nonfiction World War II books, and this was a nice change. The narrator did an excellent job as well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 08-02-17
Mesmerizing true wartime vignettes
The Marriage Bureau captures a true series of wartime courtships with winsome accuracy. WWII London is under siege which intensifies personal quests for authentic relationships. The narrator is engaging. Well done. I want a sequel!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nadia
- 06-27-20
Splendid!
Love this book! Can’t get enough of this story. Wish it were longer. It would make a wonderful tv series!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kaylene Coleman
- 01-25-18
Very sweet and not well known history of London.
I was reading it for a book club and enjoyed it very much. good read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!