Flying Jenny

by Theasa Tuohy

“It is August, 1929, and this romp through the early days of women’s aviation history arrives with all the immediacy of a late night edition. Theasa Tuohy memorably limns the adventures of not one but two pioneering women. Debutante pilot Jenny Flynn and cub reporter Laura Bailey carry the spunk of Thelma & Louise to new heights as they fight for space in the cockpit and the city room.”
—Janet Groth, author of The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker

A young female pilot brashly defies gender restrictions in the Roaring Twenties.

A historical novel in Akashic’s Kaylie Jones Books imprint.

People were doing all sorts of screwy things in 1929: They called their era the Jazz Age, the Roaring Twenties. It was a time of boundless hope, optimism, and prosperity. “Blue Skies” was the song on everyone’s lips. The tabloids were full of flagpole sitters, flappers doing the Charleston, and marathon dancers leaning on their partners through endless nights. But everyone agreed that the stunt pilots took the cake. Ever since Charles Lindbergh had flown the Atlantic solo, the entire world had gone nuts over flying—even women were doing it.

Jenny Flynn defies the odds and conventions. “You can’t fly in a skirt,” she snaps in response to a question from Laura, an equally brash young woman who is crashing through her own glass ceiling while reporting for a New York City–based tabloid newspaper. The two continually clash as Laura chases the story, following Jenny’s barnstorming escapades across the midwest.

Flying Jenny offers a vivid and exciting portrait of an earlier time when airplanes were such a thing of wonder that crowds of spectators swarmed onto runways for a dangerous view of the exploits of the pioneers—men and women—of flight.

Kaylie Jones is the award-winning author of five novels and a memoir. She teaches writing at two MFA programs and lives in New York City.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2018

About the author

Theasa Tuohy is a long-time journalist who has happily turned her life experiences and reporting skills to fiction featuring female reporters. Theasa worked for five daily newspapers and the Associated Press. Her "first woman" stints included assistant city editor at The Detroit News and the copy desk at The (Newark) Star-Ledger.

During her lengthy career as a journalist, Theasa worked for five daily newspapers and for The Associated Press. She was the first female assistant city editor at The Detroit News, one of the country’s largest afternoon dailies at the time.

As a playwright, Theasa co-authored the book, or libretto, of Scandalous: The Musical, an award-winning show about the life of D. H. Lawrence, author of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” ”Women in Love” and “Sons and Lovers.” E. M. Forster deemed D. H. Lawrence “the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation.”

She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and lives in Manhattan.

Reviews

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love historical fiction. One thing that will make me love a book of this genre is when the story has so many details that I read with a pad and pen. I need to look some of this information up to find out if it is truth or just told so well it feels like truth. The story is set during the 1920's. Women have had the vote for a while. Now they have stepped out to try to find their place in the world. We find two women stepping into a world that is dominated by me. Jenny is a pilot who loves the freedom of flying for the fun of it. Women have begun to step into the pilot's seat for different types of challenges, endurance and speed challenges as well as stunt flying. Laura is a reporter in New York. Due to her bohemian background, she has had to find her own way in the world since she was a small child. She meets Jenny while covering a story where a pilot is going to fly under the major bridges in New York City. That is when Laura realizes the pilot is a woman. There worlds collide in many ways. I felt more like I was reading a biography than a historical fiction book. The whole thing was so well written I felt like I was a third character in the book just observing. I had not heard of this author before. I will definitely look for more by them. A very interesting book that I would recommend.

[Jennifer Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun and fast-paced read — it's an adventure story following two women — one a pilot, the other a reporter following that pilot. It's set in the late 1920s, and is full of cinematic and historical detail. You feel like you are in these planes with these two very different daredevils. There are terrific cameos in this novel - its characters move between the midwest and NYC, so the margins of novel are populated with everyone from Will Rodgers, Amelia Earhart, Edna St. Vincent Millay and William Carlos Williams.

[Johnny Lakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed this book. For anyone who knows me, I am not a big reader of non financial (that's not a typo) books. This book was lent to me by a friend, who really pushed me to read it. And I am glad she did. This book takes historical events and blends in some fictional characters and paints a believable story. If I didn't know any better, I would think these characters were real too. This story is based in part in New York City, and being from NYC myself I went and googled some of the events and verified they were true. This is definitely worth a read and I hope there are more books like these in the future.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to LibraryThing and Akashic publishers.

I love historical fiction especially set in the 1920's when things were so different in so many ways especially for women like Laura and Jenny.

Women flying were a new thing then, Jenny being one of a few. Laura, a newspaper reporter for a newspaper in NYC, also a rare job for a woman back then, is tired of the usual stories they give her and wants to sink her teeth into a good one. This is how she meets Jenny and her manager, her husband and a lot of other characters, getting stories and actually going up into a plane herself. She's naive in love and she finds love here also.

She also wants to find out about her real father who might have been a priest. Her bohemian mother refuses to talk to her about it. I found it interesting that her mother was friends with Edna St. Vincent Millay and Laura played with her and called her "Aunt."

[Peter Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Flying Jenny,” by Theasa Tuohy *(Kaylie Jones, 2018). Tuohy’s mother, also named Theasa Tuohy, was a pioneer female pilot in the ‘30s, friend of Wiley Post, flew a Jenny and a Great Lakes Trainer, among other things. I suppose this is at least partly a homage to her. But it is also a great story, and a lot of fun to read. The plot revolves around two young women. There is the 18-year-old, married, devil-may-care but well-brought up Jenny Flynn, who loves to fly but doesn’t want to get involved in the races, the hooraw, the circus around the flying circuses of the 1920s. There is Laura Bailey, 22, a classic New Yorker whose mother is the ultimate bohemian living on Gay Street in Greenwich Village, with constant lovers, all sorts of wonderful friends (Laura’s “Aunt Edna” is Edna St. Vincent Millay), so imbued with the free-living ethic that she doesn’t want her daughter to call her “Mother.” Bailey is a young reporter for a New York tabloid, fighting the constant sexism of the day, desperate to make a career for herself. But she doesn’t know who her father is or was, doesn’t even know her last name or where she was born. They are both snappy, feisty, unwilling to step back for anyone. Jenny first becomes known by flying under all four East River bridges---Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan, Brooklyn. No one realizes she is a woman until Laura, on assignment, notices her hat and scarf. From there things get wild, running out to air races and air shows in Cleveland and on to Oklahoma, the two women snapping at each other and at the world. The history is lively and delicately laid, not slapped on with a pedagogical trowel. The stunts are based on the accomplishments of the pioneer female pilot Elinor Smith, who died in 2010, and who indeed flew under the bridges. All about what travel was like, how exciting and excited the air shows and stunts were, what happened to the Osage Indians in Oklahoma, who were murdered by whites trying to get their oil land. It’s a cracker-jack tale that takes on sexism in a natural, un-political fashion. Vividly written and full of wonderful details. Tuohy herself is a veteran newspaperwoman (the term before “journalist” became the norm), with experience at desks all over the country. Her hand is light and quick. Much better than I expected.

https://books.google.com/books/about/...

[Doreen Leibowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flying Jenny by Theasa Tuohy gave insight to the history of women participating in aviation. Being a fan of historical fiction, I was initially thrilled to be taken on an exciting in-flight adventure at Roosevelt Field, a location close to where I currently live. Seventeen-year-old Jenny travels the skies performing stunts in the air and Laura, a twenty-three-year-old woman is trying to make her mark as a New York newspaper reporter. Unfortunately, I found the story take a nosedive. The story was quite predictable and anticlimactic. I had hoped there was going to be a wow factor, but it never happened. Since the book did broaden my knowledge base on women’s aviation, I give it three stars.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't always read or seek out historical fiction, but this one intrigued me. The era just before the Great Depression, times were full of speakeasies, new adventure, and possibilities. Especially for women. This one does some name dropping but not overly so that I felt it was forced into the story to remind the reader just when this time was.It was natural to read about Amelia Earhart and other flyers since this was what the book was about. Women flying. It's told from two viewpoints, two women in a world where they haven't been exactly accepted before, flying and news reporting. Both are different in their upbringing but both have battles they are fighting each day. Prejudices they must overcome. Prove they can do the job and do it well.
I made notes as I read to look up other personalities and events mentioned. One takes place in Oklahoma where Osage tribe was moved from Kansas and onto land that ended up being rich in oil. They became rich but there were mysterious deaths as well. I am looking this up. I know there must be books out there about this.
I can definitely recommend this book and author.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

very informative but I kept waiting for the big twist or turn. it never came.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flying Jenny is a novel about a young girl named Jenny who is a pilot flying a WWI "Jenny" airplane circa 1929. She was raised in Oklahoma City as a proper young lady in society but is carefree and wants to fly just for the fun of it while her instructor is trying to push her into flying competitions with other female pilots. Jenny is married to an older man who was a pilot in WWI with her instructor but her husband encourages her to do as she wants with no pressure. It is also the story of a young tabloid reporter named Laura from New York City who was raised in Greenwich Village with her bohemian mother who is very casual about relationships with men. Laura has kind of raised herself and likes a structured ambitious life in contrast with her mother, who is a free lance writer for literary magazines. The two young ladies meet when Laura is assigned to cover a stunt that Jenny pulls by flying under four bridges in New York. The two are so different and immediately don't understand or like the other. Laura is assigned to cover the female air race ending in Cleveland, but from there goes on a journey to the Midwest to find out more about this young female pilot and ends up in Oklahoma, where the two get to know and respect each other's ideas. The third story line is Laura's search for her father that her mother has always said was unknown. Circumstances present clues that this might not be true and Laura and Jenny try to find the answer as each are encouraging the other to grow emotionally.

This story had potential to be interesting, but the characters did not seem believable. There were many extraneous details included to give the background of female pilots of the time and of the Oklahoma oil on Indian land and associated Osage Indian murders. So often it felt like a news article instead of a novel, which made it lack energy for the characters.

I was provided this book free from BookTrib for my honest review.

[Alisha Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Loves to Read and #booktrib for having me read and review this book!

Flying Jenny started off so exciting: Jenny flying under 4 bridges in New York! From there we really got to know Jenny Flynn (who the author Theasa Tuohy modeled after her own mother). She is spunky and fun. We meet Laura who is also quite the gal. She has an attitude and is pushy at first, but we see her evolve throughout the book. She quickly became a favorite character.

I loved how the author took these two strong-willed women that think they have nothing in common, and forced them into having to rely on each other. The story of the women pilots and women reporters was such a great take on this time period.

While the book was exciting while I read it, and I didn't want to put it down, once I did, I wasn't always motivated to pick it back up again. I'm not sure if it was the writing style, the story itself, or just my lack of time, but something about it didn't have me reaching for the book every time I had downtime. Despite that, it was a great book, and I definitely recommend it!. I give it like 3.8 stars.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book, frankly, stunk. The author claims to be a journalist, and she writes like one -- instead of letting plot elements develop organically, she tells you everything right up front, which makes for a poor reading experience. The ending was rushed and abrupt, as though she had suddenly realized she was running out of pages and slapped the last 2 chapters together. It is a shame, as the topic had great potential for interested. Not recommended.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this historical fiction set in the 1920s. It was interesting to learn about the beginning of flight and how women were involved. I love a book from a women’s perspective. Jenny was a young women flying in a time when it was mostly men. Laura a reporter sent to cover the story. They met and have some fun adventures together. Both grew personally as women by meeting and having a relationship. It was a sweet story.

[Stacey Lender · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read! I loved the strong female characters and learning about the history of female pilots in America in the 1920s. Who knew? The writing is terrific - I felt like I was right there with them flying under the bridges of NYC and across the plains of the Midwest. Flying Jenny was one of those entertaining books I couldn’t put down. Highly recommend!

[Mary Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually a reader of historical fiction but I enjoyed Flying Jenny. The novel fairly skips along, a solid page-turner with strong women in the lead roles and a wealth of little details of the excitement among those flying and testing the new airplanes - and the journalists writing about them.

[Isyss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible! If you are a fan of historical fiction then this is the book for you. I think it’s so important to read about women who accomplished so much wayyyyy before women’s liberation. We know about the suffragettes there are other stories!

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is historic. I think the people who don’t like it don’t like history as a subject. Reading the writers bio she is a former journalist. That’s why the book is written that way but I loved it!

[Jeff Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good trash; a cut above YA fiction, with some intriguing storylines that could have been developed into a truly interesting novel. I loved the spark of the teenager flying in the early years of aviation, with some wonderful detailing of that scene that puts you in their shoes.

[Bob Kuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny is a female pilot and one of the first pre WWII era. Follow a young female reporter from NYC as she meets and befriends Jenny, they soar from one adventure to the next. A fun and enjoyable read. Great work from Theasa Tuohy!

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to read as much about New York as possible. I love my city! It was interesting to read about how they use to do wild stuff back in the day on planes. Go read it-

[Sharlene Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about a reporter and a female flying ace. Exciting and exhilarating all at once.

[Erin Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best read, but not the worst either. Jenny, a midwestern woman daredevil pilot and Laura, a New York newspaper reporter meet at an air race in Ohio. They don't like each other much but end up spending a week together flying in air shows. This book is just all over the place and even though I know women pilots were out there in the 1920's the characters in this story and their relationship were totally unbelievable. There was just too much unconnected stuff going on. The mystery of Laura's father, the caustic mother, the quickie romance, none of this worked for me. I give it two and a half stars as I feel the writer did her due diligence in researching this novel. I really can't recommend this book, sorry.

[MJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was rather terrible.

The characters were unbelievable and the plot was nonexistent. The writing wasn’t good enough to make up for either of those major deficiencies.

Another reminder that I don’t generally like books by journalists.