Set between the years 1920 and 1945, this is the saga of the Kirkland family, the manufacturers of the first flying boat. Leone Kirkland, who inherits the business from her father, finds herself caught in the middle of a family feud involving her lover, which will only be resolved by World War II.
"Being the only girl in a stronghold of self-absorbed males was unbearably lonely: being ignored by every one of them was painful enough to make her long for a return to Switzerland for the new term."
The girl: Leone is the daughter of Sir Hector Kirkland, a fabulously wealthy (and powerful!) builder of sea planes. She's sixteen at the start and her only purpose in life (as her father and brother see it), is to decorate the house with her glamorous presence when she's home from her fancy Swiss school.
"What could an orphaned engineering student deeply in debt offer a man who could snap his fingers and make practically anything happen?"
The guy: Kit Anson, who was 'adopted' by Sir Hector after the tragic death of his airplane designing parent and made a member of the household. He's sent to the best schools, has the fastest cars, etc. Kit has inherited his father's skill at designing airplanes; and to top that off he's an ace pilot and after setting a new speed record with Kirkland's latest seaplane, he's on top of the world. Women are tossing themselves at his feet, even young Leone.
"This girl he was swiftly subduing was only sixteen. What was more, her name was Kirkland. Both facts put her out of bounds to him, dangerously out of bounds."
So what could go wrong and turn Kit's life upside down? Can't tell you, but it's a doozy and Kit compounds things by taking what he thinks is his due, and he hits rock bottom and may never look up again.
FF a few years and Kirkland's is ready to launch a new seaplane for passenger flight and they need to make a splash among potential investors, and they do it with an oh-so-glamorous flight to Africa and back, including an on board chef and overnight stops in only the best hotels.
"The notion of a flying boat with pink seats and walls, filled with financiers and diamond-decked ladies destined to be served haute cuisine meals in mid-air, was a dazzling enough prospect for anyone."
Can't tell you much more, but with those events the author stirred up the most delicious cocktail for a high altitude blend of drama, angst and a bit of romance. And oh, that nail-biting rescue on a tiny lake in the middle of nowhere Africa - no one should have been able to do it, but with the right pilot and the right aircraft what could go wrong?
Well...fasten your seatbelts for one heck of a bumpy ride. There's plenty of aeronautical derring-do, plus plentiful ups and downs and near-death moments leaving the reader on pins and needles waiting to find out who (if anyone) survived. I'm not a die-hard aviation geek, but even I was fascinated at all the flight details and near-death accidents and heroic rescues. Who knew the Mediterranean Sea was such a dangerous hot bed leading up to and through the second war? Who knew seaplanes could be so glamorous?
About the only thing I'd caution potential readers is that this book does not have the strong romantic elements penned by Emma Drummond. It's there way deep below the surface, but don't expect something like you'll find in Forget The Glory or Scarlet Shadows. Outside of Leone's father and brother (and the Nazis), there are no real bad guys, and no unwanted spouse who must die before the main couple get their HEA. Still, I found this darned near unputdownable and lost a few hours of sleep to get the nail-biting finish. Only one caveat, there is a twist at the end that I know will turn off some readers ---->>slight spoiler
As much as I didn't care for the outcome of this engrossing plot in the last couple of chapters, it is a very good book with a strong plot.
One thing I enjoy about this author's stories is you can never think you know what's going to happen. Just when I believe I have the inevitable to occur I read on and an found out to be wrong! And so this book was no exception.
This story of a much celebrated pilot of aqua-planes is thrilling as descriptions of flying are written in such a way as to truly educate the reader. The use of these planes during WWII is fascinating. The romance between pilot and plane is another aspect of the wonderful skill of this author.
I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction.
I was glad to get to the end of this marathon. There were too many repetitions to bulk the book up which were unnecessary unless you had put the book down for sometime. I found it all a bit predictable. A more compact story was needed but I felt Ms. Darrell ran out of ideas. Not nearly as good as some of her wartime stories. I suppose at £2.99 for the Kindle book I shouldn't complain. As usual there were the irritating typo errors.
Set from the end of WW1 to WW2, this is another great romance novel from Elizabeth Darrell. I'm not usually a fan of romance, but Elizabeth Darrell manages to give them a wartime authenticity, which prevents them from being saccharin sweet. Her characters are believable yet not black and white and her descriptive writing style is well suited to this genre.