What do you think?
Rate this book
Orange Bitter Series / Seville Trilogy #3
Woodcock Flight
Five friends who first met in Seville when in their twenties are reunited thirty years later in the same city to honour the memory of the sixth member of their set, who has died in the aftermath of a plane crash. But it’s not the arrival in life-affirming Seville that is the main thing - it’s the journey of life that brings them back there. Woodcock Flight deals with mid-life loss - be it of a partner, a job, a career or religious faith - in a spirit of humour, fortitude and optimism: it's an up-beat book. Its cast of characters have previously appeared in Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet, and Along The Stars.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 21, 2013
2 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Anthony McDonald
68 books107 followersAnthony McDonald studied history at Durham University. He worked very briefly as a musical instrument maker and as a farm labourer before moving into the theatre, where he has worked in almost every capacity except those of Director and Electrician.
His first novel, Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet, was published in 2001 and his second, Adam, in 2003.
Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet became the first book in a Seville trilogy that also comprises Along The Stars and Woodcock Flight.
Other books include the sequel to Adam, - Blue Sky Adam - and the stand-alone adventure story, Getting Orlando.
Ivor's Ghosts, a psychological thriller, was published in April 2014.
The Dog In The Chapel, and Ralph: Diary of a Gay Teen, both appeared in 2014. Anthony is the also the author of the Gay Romance series, which comprises ten short novels.
Anthony McDonald's short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic
He has also written the scripts for several Words and Music events, based around the lives and works of composers including Schubert and Brahms, which have been performed in Britain and in Portugal.
His travel writing has appeared in the Independent newspaper.
After several years of living and teaching English in France McDonald is now based based in rural East Sussex.
His first novel, Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet, was published in 2001 and his second, Adam, in 2003.
Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet became the first book in a Seville trilogy that also comprises Along The Stars and Woodcock Flight.
Other books include the sequel to Adam, - Blue Sky Adam - and the stand-alone adventure story, Getting Orlando.
Ivor's Ghosts, a psychological thriller, was published in April 2014.
The Dog In The Chapel, and Ralph: Diary of a Gay Teen, both appeared in 2014. Anthony is the also the author of the Gay Romance series, which comprises ten short novels.
Anthony McDonald's short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic
He has also written the scripts for several Words and Music events, based around the lives and works of composers including Schubert and Brahms, which have been performed in Britain and in Portugal.
His travel writing has appeared in the Independent newspaper.
After several years of living and teaching English in France McDonald is now based based in rural East Sussex.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 31, 2013
Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
Yet the import behind C.P. Cavafy’s seminal poem Ithaca is that life isn’t about the destination, it is about the journey: When you set out for Ithaca / ask that your way be long, / full of adventure, full of instruction.
Ithaca echoes throughout this deeply moving story about five friends who first met in the beautiful Spanish city of Seville when in their twenties. Now, thirty years later, they are reunited in the same city to honor the memory of the sixth member of their set, who has died in the aftermath of a plane crash.
Quintessentially English James Miller met Spanish Borja Silva there. They fell in love and now in their fifties live in an English sylvan retreat romantically called Sevenscore. James runs the local town’s Regent Theatre, Borja captains 737 airliners about Europe for a holiday tour company. Their lives are entwined with neighbors Andy, one of the old Seville set, and his partner the “boy” Nick, who isn’t yet forty. These two own and run the local pub.
If the story were only about these four it would be a fine thing of itself, but in addition to lyrical landscapes, sublime music, greasepaint and actors, and flying machines, Anthony McDonald throws in the glories of Seville—past and present—and a concatenation of friends, friends of friends, and ex-lovers, who each bring a lot more than the single carry-on of emotional baggage allowed in any airplane cabin. There is virginal Catholic priest Karsten, bereft of his beliefs, who opens the story; Pippa is a leading human rights lawyer who rides roughshod over the sensibilities of her friends; years before in Seville, she was engaged to American Mark, a poet who stopped writing after their break-up, who married classical Spanish guitarist Alexa Soares. And there are cheeky Charlie, one of Borja’s cabin crew with whom he might have had a fling, and a suave Paco, who years before stole James’s previous boyfriend.
Andy and Borja have history as aircrew. With Borja as his flight deck officer, Andy once captained an airliner until he took the brunt of an error which landed their passengers at the wrong Moroccan airport. Now Andy tows gliders into the air at a nearby airfield, while helping Nick run the local village pub. The central four lead an idyllic life until disaster strikes. A prominent element of McDonald’s writing is the evident love of flying. Flights are always described in his books with deft brush-strokes so they feel real, but in Woodcock Flight he devotes an entire chapter to Borja’s return flight to Gatwick from an Athens airport about to close down because of strike action. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that this chapter’s detail and authenticity reach such heights of tension that it signals impending disaster. The final minutes as Gatwick’s runway appears is a tour de force of action writing which will leave few finger nails unbitten—especially if, like me, you fly in and out of there regularly. I'm sure I know every blade of grass under the approach lights now.
And that disaster is just the first of a series of catastrophes, which plunge James and Nick into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions—facing loss of partner, of job, of faith, of belief in self. There are moments when a choked throat and a stream of tears are not only inevitable but entirely forgivable. But there are laughs too; and redemption and ultimately a spirit of optimism suffuses the pages in a warm glow which is never forced.
This feels like Anthony McDonald’s most important work to date—there is an intensity in the prose that suggest autobiography without ever becoming uncomfortably personal—but hopefully it’s only one to be further topped in time. Its cast of characters have previously appeared in Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet and Along The Stars, but Woodcock Flight may be safely read as a stand-alone story if you haven’t read the previous two… in which case you can then treat them as flashbacks.
This is a sublime read.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
Yet the import behind C.P. Cavafy’s seminal poem Ithaca is that life isn’t about the destination, it is about the journey: When you set out for Ithaca / ask that your way be long, / full of adventure, full of instruction.
Ithaca echoes throughout this deeply moving story about five friends who first met in the beautiful Spanish city of Seville when in their twenties. Now, thirty years later, they are reunited in the same city to honor the memory of the sixth member of their set, who has died in the aftermath of a plane crash.
Quintessentially English James Miller met Spanish Borja Silva there. They fell in love and now in their fifties live in an English sylvan retreat romantically called Sevenscore. James runs the local town’s Regent Theatre, Borja captains 737 airliners about Europe for a holiday tour company. Their lives are entwined with neighbors Andy, one of the old Seville set, and his partner the “boy” Nick, who isn’t yet forty. These two own and run the local pub.
If the story were only about these four it would be a fine thing of itself, but in addition to lyrical landscapes, sublime music, greasepaint and actors, and flying machines, Anthony McDonald throws in the glories of Seville—past and present—and a concatenation of friends, friends of friends, and ex-lovers, who each bring a lot more than the single carry-on of emotional baggage allowed in any airplane cabin. There is virginal Catholic priest Karsten, bereft of his beliefs, who opens the story; Pippa is a leading human rights lawyer who rides roughshod over the sensibilities of her friends; years before in Seville, she was engaged to American Mark, a poet who stopped writing after their break-up, who married classical Spanish guitarist Alexa Soares. And there are cheeky Charlie, one of Borja’s cabin crew with whom he might have had a fling, and a suave Paco, who years before stole James’s previous boyfriend.
Andy and Borja have history as aircrew. With Borja as his flight deck officer, Andy once captained an airliner until he took the brunt of an error which landed their passengers at the wrong Moroccan airport. Now Andy tows gliders into the air at a nearby airfield, while helping Nick run the local village pub. The central four lead an idyllic life until disaster strikes. A prominent element of McDonald’s writing is the evident love of flying. Flights are always described in his books with deft brush-strokes so they feel real, but in Woodcock Flight he devotes an entire chapter to Borja’s return flight to Gatwick from an Athens airport about to close down because of strike action. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that this chapter’s detail and authenticity reach such heights of tension that it signals impending disaster. The final minutes as Gatwick’s runway appears is a tour de force of action writing which will leave few finger nails unbitten—especially if, like me, you fly in and out of there regularly. I'm sure I know every blade of grass under the approach lights now.
And that disaster is just the first of a series of catastrophes, which plunge James and Nick into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions—facing loss of partner, of job, of faith, of belief in self. There are moments when a choked throat and a stream of tears are not only inevitable but entirely forgivable. But there are laughs too; and redemption and ultimately a spirit of optimism suffuses the pages in a warm glow which is never forced.
This feels like Anthony McDonald’s most important work to date—there is an intensity in the prose that suggest autobiography without ever becoming uncomfortably personal—but hopefully it’s only one to be further topped in time. Its cast of characters have previously appeared in Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet and Along The Stars, but Woodcock Flight may be safely read as a stand-alone story if you haven’t read the previous two… in which case you can then treat them as flashbacks.
This is a sublime read.
May 28, 2014
Wow. Totally blew me away. Although this can be read as a stand alone book I would strongly urge you to read The first two books in the series before picking this up. "Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet" will introduce you to the main characters, to the start of the friendships and how they develop. "Along the Stars" continues the story some years later.
"Woodcock Flight" is filled with emotional highs and lows. If you are a hopeless romantic like myself then it will certainly have you in tears more than a few times.
Anthony Mcdonald is an exceptional author, he brings the characters to life in such a way that you feel you have known them personaly. You laugh when they laugh, you feel for them when they are hurt. They are not just names written in a book but old friends that you want to reach out to and give comfort to. I will miss them all very deeply
"Woodcock Flight" is filled with emotional highs and lows. If you are a hopeless romantic like myself then it will certainly have you in tears more than a few times.
Anthony Mcdonald is an exceptional author, he brings the characters to life in such a way that you feel you have known them personaly. You laugh when they laugh, you feel for them when they are hurt. They are not just names written in a book but old friends that you want to reach out to and give comfort to. I will miss them all very deeply
January 25, 2014
A fantastic finale to the Seville Trilogy/ Orange Bitter series. Catching up with these characters was like meeting up with old friends that you haven't seen for years. Don't want to say much more as I hate Spoilers. Congratulations to Anthony McDonald.
August 10, 2016
Loved this. It was good catching up with the gang again. A pleasure to have known them.
January 6, 2014
Another truly compelling read.
A very fine and emotional way of finishing the journey of James and Borja.
I loved the first two books and I love this third book.
A very fine and emotional way of finishing the journey of James and Borja.
I loved the first two books and I love this third book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews