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Fly Away
Bestselling author Lynn Austin’s historical novels have entertained readers worldwide; now, rediscover her beloved contemporary debut.Wilhelmina Brewster and Mike Dolan are two very different people—one is trying to figure out how to live, the other how to die.Wilhelmina Brewster has been a college music professor for 41 years, never marrying, devoting her life to her career instead. After a forced retirement, however, she is mourning and searching for something to fill the empty hours. Widower Mike Dolan is a pilot and World War II veteran who has always lived life to the fullest. But when his cancer returns, he makes plans for a final flight in his airplane rather than become a burden to his family.When their paths cross unexpectedly and Wilhelmina accidentally learns of Mike’s plans, she’s horrified, certain he’s making a mistake that she can correct. What she didn’t expect was how spectacularly she would fail, or how completely Mike would change her perspective on life, loss, and faith in the process.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
March 10, 2021
I had to laugh. At least twice as I was reading this I looked to see who the author was. Lynn Austin. I kept thinking how very different this is from her historical novels. It was pointed out by someone who saw my review that this was NOT a different Lynn Austin...Lynn N. Austin. Same author, just published under two names.😊
Set in 1987, the two main characters are in the sunset of their lives and couldn’t be more different.
Wilhelmina Brewster was brought up in a home of academia and strict faith. Her talent on the piano set her apart from her brothers and later became a professor of music at a prestigious private university. Always the stern look on her face, she went through life in a serious fashion. Never married, now retired, "Mina" was depressed with little reason to get up in the morning.
Mike Dolan was as down-home as you can get. A pilot with a quick smile and full of life, having little to do with the arts or educational pursuits. Life to him was Dolan Aviation, his one son and three young grandchildren. Except for the loss of his wife years ago Mike was content, until a prognosis let him know it would all come to an end soon.
Two unexpected meetings of these characters altered things for Mina. Suddenly she's being lead by God in a direction she's never gone before, and it’s far too uncomfortable.
Although this was a very different style from Ms Austin's other stories, and by the way, one she worked on very early in her writing career, it was nevertheless a thought provoking and fascinating book. I loved the way her brothers gave her advice and Mina wrestled with their dogmatism as opposed to what she felt God was saying instead. Her struggle was so real. I loved watching her grow through it all.
I truly enjoyed this book and had the best time talking to my husband about witnessing techniques and expectations as I relayed the gist of the book, which he normally simply tolerates from me, poor thing. 😁
Set in 1987, the two main characters are in the sunset of their lives and couldn’t be more different.
Wilhelmina Brewster was brought up in a home of academia and strict faith. Her talent on the piano set her apart from her brothers and later became a professor of music at a prestigious private university. Always the stern look on her face, she went through life in a serious fashion. Never married, now retired, "Mina" was depressed with little reason to get up in the morning.
Mike Dolan was as down-home as you can get. A pilot with a quick smile and full of life, having little to do with the arts or educational pursuits. Life to him was Dolan Aviation, his one son and three young grandchildren. Except for the loss of his wife years ago Mike was content, until a prognosis let him know it would all come to an end soon.
Two unexpected meetings of these characters altered things for Mina. Suddenly she's being lead by God in a direction she's never gone before, and it’s far too uncomfortable.
Although this was a very different style from Ms Austin's other stories, and by the way, one she worked on very early in her writing career, it was nevertheless a thought provoking and fascinating book. I loved the way her brothers gave her advice and Mina wrestled with their dogmatism as opposed to what she felt God was saying instead. Her struggle was so real. I loved watching her grow through it all.
I truly enjoyed this book and had the best time talking to my husband about witnessing techniques and expectations as I relayed the gist of the book, which he normally simply tolerates from me, poor thing. 😁
December 1, 2017
What I Loved: This isn’t your typical Austin novel chocked full of historical facts and a before-this-time setting. However, Fly Away contained the same heart-felt story that we’d come to expect from Austin. It wasn’t a fast paced tale, but something deep and enriching.
When two unlikely friends meet up, it opens the door for a lot of self-exploring. What is the purpose of your life? What are you REALLY treasuring? How do you witness to the lost? Are you even supposed to witness at all?
Austin meets the readers where the general audience will be able to relate and she tackles each question beautifully. The characters are well developed and help to enhance the message behind the plot.
Rating and Recommendation: I’m giving Fly Away 5 stars and recommending it to those who enjoy Christian Fiction.
~I received a copy from the author. I was not compensated for this review. All thoughts are my own.
When two unlikely friends meet up, it opens the door for a lot of self-exploring. What is the purpose of your life? What are you REALLY treasuring? How do you witness to the lost? Are you even supposed to witness at all?
Austin meets the readers where the general audience will be able to relate and she tackles each question beautifully. The characters are well developed and help to enhance the message behind the plot.
Rating and Recommendation: I’m giving Fly Away 5 stars and recommending it to those who enjoy Christian Fiction.
~I received a copy from the author. I was not compensated for this review. All thoughts are my own.
May 21, 2021
A different kind of love story. Two characters in their later years form an unexpected friendship teaching each other lesson on life. Lynn Austin writes in many different genres and knocks it out of the park with each one.
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July 30, 2018This was a gently-paced, sweet story that I enjoyed, even though I didn't like the female protagonist for the first chunk of the book. I assumed she was going to grow and mature into a likeable person, though, and I was right. Fly Away brought me to tears in a few places. Readers who like any or all of the following in a novel may enjoy this book:
1) Protagonists who are older than the typical age range for a novel. (They are 65 in this story.)
2) A story that is not a romance.
3) A strong gospel message, explicitly laid out in Scriptures, prayers, and dialogue between characters.
1) Protagonists who are older than the typical age range for a novel. (They are 65 in this story.)
2) A story that is not a romance.
3) A strong gospel message, explicitly laid out in Scriptures, prayers, and dialogue between characters.
February 1, 2020
I laughed out loud and I bawled my eyes out! What a wonderful book!
February 16, 2022
What a beautiful and unexpected story of love. Wilhelmina and Mike are wonderful characters, flawed and real-to-life. I laughed and cried.
May 18, 2021
Second read: This lovely book was just as good as my first read. One thing I did miss in my first review was a handful of words that I didn’t quite appreciate, but even that couldn’t knock of any stars...
How can I describe how I feel about this beautiful work of literature? I absolutely love it. I’m more of a mystery gal, but this book embraced me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go.
The wonderful imagery the author uses in this book made me fall in love with it even more..
I can confidently say before this time I have only physically cried while reading one book, which would be my precious Bible, but after reading this beautiful work, I can now change that to two.
Bless yourself by reading this.
How can I describe how I feel about this beautiful work of literature? I absolutely love it. I’m more of a mystery gal, but this book embraced me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go.
The wonderful imagery the author uses in this book made me fall in love with it even more..
I can confidently say before this time I have only physically cried while reading one book, which would be my precious Bible, but after reading this beautiful work, I can now change that to two.
Bless yourself by reading this.
January 23, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. A retired professor had never married but played the piano like an angel and a man who was dieing from cancer meet. He teaches her how to really enjoy life. I found myself laughing out loud. And. I cried too
November 7, 2017
Have your tissues ready to dab at your eyes at the end of this novel! This was a touching story of finding life in the face of death and was surprisingly uplifting in spite of the sorrow I knew would eventually come. Its main characters are both in their sixties and facing unwanted changes to their lives. Wilhelmina Brewster has been forced to retire, and Mike Dolan has just been told that he has three months to live, maybe six at most, but by far the most fascinating thing about this odd couple was the way in which they contrasted one another.
Wilhelmina is a lifelong Christian, but joy is missing from her life—in fact, she comes to realise it was missing even when she was doing what she loved, let alone now that it has been taken away from her. Her life has been one of discipline, of setting goals and achieving them, of living up to the image of her accomplished and highly educated family, and of being proper and respectable. When she visits Mike on behalf of the Cancer Society she volunteers with and learns that he intends to take his plane up one day and forget to land, her ordered and disciplined life gets turned upside down as she reluctantly attempts to share the Gospel with Mike.
Mike never shared his deceased wife’s faith—has never really seen the need for God in his life—and yet even now, when he knows he has only a little time left, he knows more joy in his life than Wilhelmina. Having watched his wife die of cancer 17 years earlier, Mike opts not to receive the treatments that will only buy him a little extra time rather than healing. “You get to the point with loved ones where they’re suffering so much you just wish they could die. Then you feel guilty for wishing it.” He doesn’t want to put his son’s family through that, and he wants to die living life to the full, doing what he loves most: flying.
Considering Wilhelmina’s goal of sharing the Gospel with Mike, this is quite an evangelical novel, and yet it never gets preachy. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Wilhelmina struggles to work out the best way to proceed. She consults with her brothers—Dr. Peter Brewster, Professor of Religious Studies with a PhD in philosophy and religion, and The Reverend Dr. Laurentius Horatio Brewster, B.D, M.Div., Th.D., a senior pastor—but these conversations only seem to convince her of the way NOT to proceed. In the end, it is the simple advice of a missionary friend who lost everything on the mission field that gives Wilhelmina the key—but I’ll leave you to discover what that is for yourself.
I loved watching Wilhelmina’s life get turned inside out as she spent time getting to know Mike and his family, and I especially loved the way in which Wilhelmina and Mike both helped each other to discover life in different ways—one eternally, and one in the here and now. The story also gently addresses the subject of euthanasia, and the truth that if you’re going to trust God with your life, then you need to trust Him in death, too.
An enjoyable and poignant read.
I received a copy of this novel from the author. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Wilhelmina is a lifelong Christian, but joy is missing from her life—in fact, she comes to realise it was missing even when she was doing what she loved, let alone now that it has been taken away from her. Her life has been one of discipline, of setting goals and achieving them, of living up to the image of her accomplished and highly educated family, and of being proper and respectable. When she visits Mike on behalf of the Cancer Society she volunteers with and learns that he intends to take his plane up one day and forget to land, her ordered and disciplined life gets turned upside down as she reluctantly attempts to share the Gospel with Mike.
Mike never shared his deceased wife’s faith—has never really seen the need for God in his life—and yet even now, when he knows he has only a little time left, he knows more joy in his life than Wilhelmina. Having watched his wife die of cancer 17 years earlier, Mike opts not to receive the treatments that will only buy him a little extra time rather than healing. “You get to the point with loved ones where they’re suffering so much you just wish they could die. Then you feel guilty for wishing it.” He doesn’t want to put his son’s family through that, and he wants to die living life to the full, doing what he loves most: flying.
Considering Wilhelmina’s goal of sharing the Gospel with Mike, this is quite an evangelical novel, and yet it never gets preachy. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Wilhelmina struggles to work out the best way to proceed. She consults with her brothers—Dr. Peter Brewster, Professor of Religious Studies with a PhD in philosophy and religion, and The Reverend Dr. Laurentius Horatio Brewster, B.D, M.Div., Th.D., a senior pastor—but these conversations only seem to convince her of the way NOT to proceed. In the end, it is the simple advice of a missionary friend who lost everything on the mission field that gives Wilhelmina the key—but I’ll leave you to discover what that is for yourself.
I loved watching Wilhelmina’s life get turned inside out as she spent time getting to know Mike and his family, and I especially loved the way in which Wilhelmina and Mike both helped each other to discover life in different ways—one eternally, and one in the here and now. The story also gently addresses the subject of euthanasia, and the truth that if you’re going to trust God with your life, then you need to trust Him in death, too.
An enjoyable and poignant read.
I received a copy of this novel from the author. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
July 17, 2018
What can I say to describe this relatively small book now that I’m finished. From the author’s note at the beginning telling about all the heartbreaking events that were going on in her life when she wrote this book to the Epilogue it was a wonderful journey. It was one of her first books and it is amazing! When I started the first chapter I thought it was okay and maybe a little slow, but “Hey, this is one of her first books, so I’ll give her a pass because she’s an excellent writer and she had to start somewhere, right?” Well, don’t let the beginning of this book fool you. It is powerful, it is amazing, it is life changing, it is one of her best books!
Wilhelmina Brewster was forced to retire from her teaching position at Faith College. That was her whole life. She’d played the piano from childhood to retirement and she didn’t know how to do anything else. Literally, she had never had a life apart from the piano. While other kids were playing and going places and having fun, Wilhelmina was playing the piano. Now, her life as she has always known it, was over. She’s mad at God for letting this happen. Yes, she’s a Christian, yet she never fully knew how to truly live the abundant life that God promised.
Mike Dolan, a regular man, not educated like Wilhelmina, just down to earth and full of life, gets some bad news. His cancer is back. But even with that death sentence staring him in the face, he is still full of life and caring of others, and always wanting to do something fun. He’s not a Christian. Yet, his life is overflowing in joy and Wilhelmina’s life is stagnant. So, how can Wilhelmina tell him about Jesus?
These two meet and the story picks up and you’ll laugh, you’ll find yourself questioning your life, you’ll rejoice, you’ll cry, you’ll never be the same. One good quote from this book, “We have two choices, you and I; we can lose ourselves in despair or find ourselves in Christ.”
I can’t say anymore other than this book is worth reading. It’s worth sharing. It’s an amazing story of how God can take two people and change their lives so dramatically, and you can sit, read and watch the whole process as it unwinds. Even be able to see how past prayers can still be heard.
Wilhelmina Brewster was forced to retire from her teaching position at Faith College. That was her whole life. She’d played the piano from childhood to retirement and she didn’t know how to do anything else. Literally, she had never had a life apart from the piano. While other kids were playing and going places and having fun, Wilhelmina was playing the piano. Now, her life as she has always known it, was over. She’s mad at God for letting this happen. Yes, she’s a Christian, yet she never fully knew how to truly live the abundant life that God promised.
Mike Dolan, a regular man, not educated like Wilhelmina, just down to earth and full of life, gets some bad news. His cancer is back. But even with that death sentence staring him in the face, he is still full of life and caring of others, and always wanting to do something fun. He’s not a Christian. Yet, his life is overflowing in joy and Wilhelmina’s life is stagnant. So, how can Wilhelmina tell him about Jesus?
These two meet and the story picks up and you’ll laugh, you’ll find yourself questioning your life, you’ll rejoice, you’ll cry, you’ll never be the same. One good quote from this book, “We have two choices, you and I; we can lose ourselves in despair or find ourselves in Christ.”
I can’t say anymore other than this book is worth reading. It’s worth sharing. It’s an amazing story of how God can take two people and change their lives so dramatically, and you can sit, read and watch the whole process as it unwinds. Even be able to see how past prayers can still be heard.
June 16, 2017
Mike and Wilhelmina are an unlikely match for sure! Mike lives a carefree and adventure filled life. He feels he is in control of all aspects of his life and is determined to also be in control of how it ends. Therefore there is no need for 'religion' in his life.
Wilhelmina on the other hand feels she is the good Christian women. She has lived a very productive life of music, as a professor at a prestigious college. When this segment of her life ends she feels useless. When Mike learns he has terminal cancer he feels his life is over.
I love the way these two come together. Wilhelmina's character is very realistic. She has doubts and is unsure of herself. Something most of us don't want to admit. Mike also is very realistic. He is that happy go lucky guy that we all know....that feels he is in control and doesn't have a need for the Lord.
I love the way their lives are woven together. This was a great book!
Wilhelmina on the other hand feels she is the good Christian women. She has lived a very productive life of music, as a professor at a prestigious college. When this segment of her life ends she feels useless. When Mike learns he has terminal cancer he feels his life is over.
I love the way these two come together. Wilhelmina's character is very realistic. She has doubts and is unsure of herself. Something most of us don't want to admit. Mike also is very realistic. He is that happy go lucky guy that we all know....that feels he is in control and doesn't have a need for the Lord.
I love the way their lives are woven together. This was a great book!
July 31, 2017
Have the tissues ready for this very poignant story about a man who feels his life needs to be over before its time and a woman who feels led to help him do the right thing. Professor Wilhelmina Brewster has retirement forced on her and feels she has nothing to live for or look forward to. Mike Dolan has been a pilot most of his life and loves taking risks. When his path crosses with Wilhelmina, will he succeed in showing her there is still a lot for her to live for? Will Wilhelmina get the courage to share with Mike her faith without being preachy? Two very different people who can help each other navigate life. Such an inspiring story of hope, forgiveness and assurance. A tear-jerker for sure but they are happy tears! Don’t miss this one!
I was given a complimentary copy from the author.
I was given a complimentary copy from the author.
March 13, 2016
An interesting story about a man who is dying after his cancer returns. He is a pilot and loves to fly. He tells the Hospice lady not to bother with him because he plan on taking his plane up and never returning. She is a recently retired music professor and resent being put out to pature. She doesn't know how to have fun and Mike shows her how to fly a kite and how to fish. It is a beautiful story of one person helping another.
October 3, 2018
My all time favorite author Lynn Austin! She always hits a home run! Makes me think deeper! So many great books on my shelf but I always go back to her when I make a recommendation to a friend!
My all time favorite author Lynn Austin! She always hits a home run! Makes me think deeper! So many great books on my shelf but I always go back to her when I recommend to a friend!
My all time favorite author Lynn Austin! She always hits a home run! Makes me think deeper! So many great books on my shelf but I always go back to her when I recommend to a friend!
May 18, 2021
This book actually made me cry. It was just that good. From the very first page, I was immersed in the story, and I didn't want the book to end. The moral of this story is: to live life to the fullest is better than doing nothing with your life.
Sorry for the short review. I am still dealing with the emotions from this book.
Sorry for the short review. I am still dealing with the emotions from this book.
May 28, 2023
Hij is ongeneeslijk ziek. Zij heeft niets meer om voor te leven. Kunnen zij elkaar het leven teruggeven?
Wat een bijzonder en hoopvol verhaal over Mike en Wilhelmina. Mike is ongeneeslijk ziek en wil een einde aan zijn leven maken voordat hij door zijn ziekte wordt verslagen. Wilhelmina is gepensioneerd professor op het conservatorium en nu ze haar enige doel in haar leven is verloren, is ze in een depressie beland. Als ze elkaar tegenkomen en iets over hun eigen leven delen merken ze hoe ontzettend verschillend ze zijn. Wilhelmina voelt zich genoodzaakt om Mike over haar geloof te delen, iets waar hij niet open voor staat en waarvan zij denkt het niet te kunnen overbrengen. En Mike wil Wilhelmina leren een nieuw doel te vinden in haar leven en om haar leven te leven met vrolijkheid en nieuwe uitdagingen.
Een ontroerend verhaal, maar ook hoopvol!
Wat een bijzonder en hoopvol verhaal over Mike en Wilhelmina. Mike is ongeneeslijk ziek en wil een einde aan zijn leven maken voordat hij door zijn ziekte wordt verslagen. Wilhelmina is gepensioneerd professor op het conservatorium en nu ze haar enige doel in haar leven is verloren, is ze in een depressie beland. Als ze elkaar tegenkomen en iets over hun eigen leven delen merken ze hoe ontzettend verschillend ze zijn. Wilhelmina voelt zich genoodzaakt om Mike over haar geloof te delen, iets waar hij niet open voor staat en waarvan zij denkt het niet te kunnen overbrengen. En Mike wil Wilhelmina leren een nieuw doel te vinden in haar leven en om haar leven te leven met vrolijkheid en nieuwe uitdagingen.
Een ontroerend verhaal, maar ook hoopvol!
September 13, 2025
Mike Dolan and Wilhelmina had a lot to learn from each other and I enjoyed watching them change and grow.
Finishing this book so close to Charlie Kirk’s death really had an impact on me. The themes of forgiveness and love, God and spirituality had me doing as much introspection as Mike.
This is a great novel for anyone looking to strengthen their relationship with God. A Very heartwarming story ❤️
Finishing this book so close to Charlie Kirk’s death really had an impact on me. The themes of forgiveness and love, God and spirituality had me doing as much introspection as Mike.
This is a great novel for anyone looking to strengthen their relationship with God. A Very heartwarming story ❤️
November 26, 2024
Lynn Austin never disappoints! This story is different than other books I’ve read by her, but still thought provoking and well written.
November 5, 2022
Not as enjoyable as her other novels and pretty predictable.
November 10, 2018
In the novel Fly Away by Lynn Austin, Wilhelmina Brewster faces forced retirement after teaching music at a Christian college all her adult life. She’s depressed and doesn’t know what to do with herself. She never married, never had any other hobbies or interests.
She volunteers playing piano at a cancer center sometimes, and one day there she runs into Mike Dolan – and they get off very much on the wrong foot.
Mike is a widower and a pilot who still flies for the business that he started and his son now runs. But Mike has just learned that he has cancer with a life expectancy of only three months. He doesn’t want to put his family through the same agony they experienced when his wife died, so he plans not to tell them. When the cancer gets too bad, he plans to fly – “and forget to land.”
Somehow he ends up telling Wilhelmina his plans, and she is horrified, especially when she learns he is not a Christian. But she has never witnessed to someone in her life. She talks to her pastor, but he feels like she should be the one to talk to Mike, since she knows him. She talks to her pastor brother, but he has someone over the evangelism department in his church and is not much help. She appeals to her professor brother, and he gives her several detailed arguments from Christian apologetics that she knows she won’t remember and doesn’t think Mike would respond to anyway. No one seems to know how to simply tell a dying man about the Savior and hope of heaven.
Wilhelmina tries to give Mike some tracts, but her efforts are thwarted. Somehow, though they keep finding reasons to see each other, and a tentative relationship begins. Mike feels sorry for her when he learns she has been retired against her will and tries to think of things to cheer up up – like a kite-flying contest with his grandchildren, something Wilhelmina never thought in a million years that she would do.
She learns that Mike isn’t just a project. And even though he’s dying, he knows how to enjoy life much more than she does.
My favorite line in the book comes from advice Wilhelmina’s father gives to a friend: “We have two choices, you and I; we can lose ourselves in despair or find ourselves in Christ” (p. 170).
My thoughts:
I loved this story. I could identify with Wilhelmina’s personality so much. There were so many comical moments, yet serious ones, too. The book blurb says one of them is “figuring out how to live, the other how to die.” Lynn’s notes in the book share that this was one of the first books she wrote. The story takes place in 1987, later than her many historical books, but too far back to be called contemporary. It was published in 1996 and went out of print, but has since been reprinted, keeping the 1987 references, which I enjoyed. I am so glad it was reprinted. I would have hated to miss this story.
She volunteers playing piano at a cancer center sometimes, and one day there she runs into Mike Dolan – and they get off very much on the wrong foot.
Mike is a widower and a pilot who still flies for the business that he started and his son now runs. But Mike has just learned that he has cancer with a life expectancy of only three months. He doesn’t want to put his family through the same agony they experienced when his wife died, so he plans not to tell them. When the cancer gets too bad, he plans to fly – “and forget to land.”
Somehow he ends up telling Wilhelmina his plans, and she is horrified, especially when she learns he is not a Christian. But she has never witnessed to someone in her life. She talks to her pastor, but he feels like she should be the one to talk to Mike, since she knows him. She talks to her pastor brother, but he has someone over the evangelism department in his church and is not much help. She appeals to her professor brother, and he gives her several detailed arguments from Christian apologetics that she knows she won’t remember and doesn’t think Mike would respond to anyway. No one seems to know how to simply tell a dying man about the Savior and hope of heaven.
Wilhelmina tries to give Mike some tracts, but her efforts are thwarted. Somehow, though they keep finding reasons to see each other, and a tentative relationship begins. Mike feels sorry for her when he learns she has been retired against her will and tries to think of things to cheer up up – like a kite-flying contest with his grandchildren, something Wilhelmina never thought in a million years that she would do.
She learns that Mike isn’t just a project. And even though he’s dying, he knows how to enjoy life much more than she does.
My favorite line in the book comes from advice Wilhelmina’s father gives to a friend: “We have two choices, you and I; we can lose ourselves in despair or find ourselves in Christ” (p. 170).
My thoughts:
I loved this story. I could identify with Wilhelmina’s personality so much. There were so many comical moments, yet serious ones, too. The book blurb says one of them is “figuring out how to live, the other how to die.” Lynn’s notes in the book share that this was one of the first books she wrote. The story takes place in 1987, later than her many historical books, but too far back to be called contemporary. It was published in 1996 and went out of print, but has since been reprinted, keeping the 1987 references, which I enjoyed. I am so glad it was reprinted. I would have hated to miss this story.
July 31, 2017
Have the tissues ready for this very poignant story about a man who feels his life needs to be over before its time and a woman who feels led to help him do the right thing. Professor Wilhelmina Brewster has retirement forced on her and feels she has nothing to live for or look forward to. Mike Dolan has been a pilot most of his life and loves taking risks. When his path crosses with Wilhelmina, will he succeed in showing her there is still a lot for her to live for? Will Wilhelmina get the courage to share with Mike her faith without being preachy? Two very different people who can help each other navigate life. Such an inspiring story of hope, forgiveness and assurance. A tear-jerker for sure but they are happy tears! Don’t miss this one!
I was given a complimentary copy from the author.
I was given a complimentary copy from the author.
June 28, 2017
Fans of Lynn Austin will be moved by this poignant story. Readers new to Mrs. Austin will be introduced to a wonderful storyteller. The characters in Fly Away face questions of faith, finding purpose in life and heaven, which lends itself easily to group discussion. This emotional tale provides a beautiful portrait of friendship. Historical fiction fans will learn about airplanes and their use during the war. Plus a hot air balloon race will provide interesting descriptions. Anyone searching for purpose in life will be encouraged to find it by the characters in this wonderful story. I was provided a copy of this book by the author to review and I am so glad that this story was published again!
July 2, 2017
At first I thought this book was depressing. An uptight older Christian music professor, forced into retirement meets an energetic but unbelieving aging pilot who just found out he only has a short time to live. I was given a free copy to review, so I plunged on. By the end, I had become attached to these two, one who has never learned how to truly live learns that from one who wants to end it all. I liked that the believer had issues she needed to work through, and the unbeliever taught her. At the end, I was in tears, needing to convince my husband that I was all right! That doesn't happen to me often. If you're looking for a quick read with a powerful punch, I recommend Fly Away to you!
October 26, 2017
As with all of Lynn Austin's books this one too was wonderful. The story revolved around a woman who lost her job as an older woman. She was strong in her faith but had never really lived her life. She met a man who was a pilot and loved life but had lost his wife and his faith. He was terminally ill with cancer and planned on one last flight to end his life. She made it her mission to bring him back to his faith before he took that last flight. In the meantime he provided her with many new experiences. They became very special to each other and her mission was achieved. Faith based and very meaningful story.
September 19, 2018
In the intro Lynn shares this was her first book. It is a sweet story, quick read and very enjoyable. The twist is an older woman wanting to share her faith after living in a Christian bubble her whole life and realizing the "lost" man is more Christian acting in many ways than herself.
It reminds me of when I read Agatha Christie's first novel. It was sweet, simple yet enjoyable. Lynn has grown as an author since this book, but you see in this that she is a great writer and thinker.
It reminds me of when I read Agatha Christie's first novel. It was sweet, simple yet enjoyable. Lynn has grown as an author since this book, but you see in this that she is a great writer and thinker.
July 11, 2017
Amazing
I absolutely love every book Lynn Austin has written. I believe this book hit new heights for even her! I think I read that this was the first book she had ever written and this is a new release of it. I thought I had read all her books, but I don't remember reading this one until now. "Amazing" is all I can say!
I absolutely love every book Lynn Austin has written. I believe this book hit new heights for even her! I think I read that this was the first book she had ever written and this is a new release of it. I thought I had read all her books, but I don't remember reading this one until now. "Amazing" is all I can say!
October 16, 2017
Fly Away is a powerful story! I was impacted at the soul level. Mike and Wilhelmina have each suffered loss. I felt their pain as they struggled to come to terms with their circumstances. It was a joy to watch them find hope and love. Fly Away is a must read for those who need hope in the midst of their wilderness season.
July 5, 2017
Exquisite gem
This is a jewel of a book. It speaks eloquently as to what is important...and to what isn't. It's heartbreaking, it's soul searching, it's exhilarating. A rare piece of writing that is both meaningful and moving. Highly, highly recommended.
This is a jewel of a book. It speaks eloquently as to what is important...and to what isn't. It's heartbreaking, it's soul searching, it's exhilarating. A rare piece of writing that is both meaningful and moving. Highly, highly recommended.
July 27, 2017
With each new adventure that Mike introduced Wilhelmina to, I felt as if I was learning also. The Biblical truths shared in this story were excellent explanations for children and adults alike. I loved the hope that it provided.
February 14, 2018
Wonderful story
I enjoy books that can show in a storytelling way the sharing of the Good News. This one did an excellent job of doing just that. This is a new author for me and look forward to other books
I enjoy books that can show in a storytelling way the sharing of the Good News. This one did an excellent job of doing just that. This is a new author for me and look forward to other books
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