Girl at the Edge of Sky

by Lilian Nattel

Girl at the Edge of Sky is a unique, thrilling, sometimes terrifying novel based on the life and death of Lily Litvyak, a female Soviet flying ace and fighter pilot shot down behind German lines in the Second World War. From the bestselling author of Web of Angels and The River Midnight .

Lily Litvyak is no one's idea of a fighter pilot: a tiny, dimpled teenager with golden curls who lied about her age in order to fly. But in the crucible of the air war against the German invaders, she becomes that rare thing--a flying ace, glorified at home and around the world as the White Lily of Stalingrad. The real Lily disappeared in combat in August 1943, and the facts of her life are slim, but they have inspired Lilian Nattel's indelible portrait of a courageous young woman driven by family secrets to become an unlikely war hero. Even more powerfully, Nattel takes another big leap, asking the compelling question: what if Lily survived that last crash and became a prisoner of the Germans?
Lily lives in a world of horrifying risk, where the life and death stakes are high in the air, but also on the ground. In the Soviet system, everyone is an informer, even your best friend. Lily lives in constant fear that she will be found out, arrested and executed as the daughter of an "enemy of the people." When she ends up a German prisoner, as a Soviet officer and a Jew, the need for deception becomes even more desperate.
Girl at the Edge of Sky is a masterwork of the imagination, subtle and bold all at once, bringing us deep into the precarious life of a remarkable woman who lies to fight for the country that would disown her, and then lies to survive the enemy that would annihilate her.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Canada, World War II, War, Audiobook, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2019

About the author

Lilian Nattel's 5th novel is Only Sisters, the story of a good woman whose life unravels with a single lie: posing as her rebel sister on social media to give her elderly mother peace of mind. Lilian's other novels are: Girl at the Edge of Sky, about a WW2 female fighter pilot; Web of Angels, which deals with D.I.D., The River Midnight, about life in a shtetl with angels in the 19th century; and The Singing Fire, where ghosts and immigrant mothers mingle. Lilian was born in Montreal and decided to be a writer at the age of 10 when she realized that not all writers were dead. Later, she lived in a Toronto garret and temporarily became an accountant to pay for the accommodation. Ever since the publication of The River Midnight, which was published in 8 languages, she's written full time.

For more about Lilian, visit her website .

Reviews

[Sheryl Khanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the real life story of Lily Litvyak, a female Soviet fighter pilot shot down behind enemy lines during WWII. Love the premise and it started out great, then really slowed down for 200 pages and then the best part was the last 100 pages. It was a good read, but not a great read, as it was too easy to put down. That said, there were some parts that I really enjoyed. This one was a mixed bag so gets a 3.5/5 from me!

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The somewhat flowery prose of this book seemed incompatible with the plot.
Long descriptions became a detraction.
Pg. 43 – “Formerly a powder room…” becomes an office space with a desk, table, chairs, filing cabinet and space for several people in the room.
The writing style especially for this genre of story put me off and I just could not finish the book.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy the book at all, I couldn’t finish it. I found the story didn’t flow, it was all over the place I’m very disappointed.

[Maia Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story of a Russian female pilot's life during WWII and how she survived after being shot down by the Germans. Literary historical fiction at its best. I haven't read Lilian Nattel's other books, but I'm going to seek them out. Definitely a fan of her evocative style of writing.

[Heather View · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author seemed to have too many thoughts and ideas and just crammed them in all at once. I was very excited to read this book for my love of history, but overall I was very disappointed

[Talia Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction is not a genre I often reach for, but l enjoyed this book immensely. At a time where our world is fraught with war and polarizing conflicts, it is too easy to forget about the individuals and the humanity that exist amidst it all.

Lillian Nattel creates a dynamic cast of characters, telling their difficult stories and intertwining their lives amidst the realities and horrors of war. She reminds us that between battles, lives are lived, children struggle through the transition into adulthood, and unlikely friendships are born. This book is a beautiful take on what life could have been for one Jewish-Russian pilot whose fate remains unknown.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I really liked the story and enjoyed the concept-especially since it’s based on a real woman. However, it took me a while to get through as it’s more serious and some characters have similar names, which can be confusing

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I did end up enjoying this book by the time I got about 3/4 of the way through. I have to say that the thing that prevented me from truly embracing the story Lily was the way that the book kept jumping from her time as a Russian pilot to the days after she is shot down. Maybe others would disagree, but I feel like there was no need to keep doing this and, because of the jumping, I kept getting pulled out of the story and having to re-adjust to the characters again at a different point in Lily's life. I normally don't mind when we do a past/present POV switch, but that's because the character also changes in the story (e.g. Lilac Girls). And maybe I was just hung up on this particular thing as a reason for why it took so long for me to enjoy what I had hoped would be a really good story about a female fighter pilot in WWII. But all that to say, I think it would have done just as well being told in a more linear timeline format.

I did take the time to read about the history behind the book and I am really happy that Nattel chose to take the narrative away from what is the commonly-held belief that Lily died when her plane was shot down to give us more meat and a more interesting story. I was a bit sad at the end because a few characters (e.g. Julia) didn't seem to have a follow up of the sort where I knew where they were. And while it works for the story, it still left loose ends for me.

[Chantal Vallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is impressive. I love the creative decisions the author made when filling the historical gaps of Lily's life and the research component sounds fascinating (as well as a tad humourous). The world may never know the truth of Lily's tale, but the fictional version is an absolute delight and written with so much depth, compassion, and spirit.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a World War II book about Russian female fighter pilots, which was interesting to read about as I was unaware women pilots engaged in combat. I thought they were restricted to ferrying planes, but apparently Russia was an early proponent of gender equality.
Many of the characters are real historical people, including Lily, the main character. Lily's story is told in alternating segments, her time as a pilot, and her time as a prisoner. I didn't see the value in hopping backward and forward in time for this story as there were no great secrets uncovered or other type of aha moments. It seemed gimmicky and disrupted the continuity of both stories.
Although the novel follows Lily nearly exclusively, I felt she remained two dimensional and I was not invested in her life at all. This could be partly due to the choppiness of hopping back and forth in time.
While there are many documents and news articles available to research for the pilot sections, nothing is known of what happened to Lily after she was shot down so the prisoner sections are pure fiction. I have just realized that may be the reason for hopping back and forth in time. Fact, fiction, fact, fiction, etc.

[Rayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book. Well-researched historical fiction lets the reader slide into the story so easily, and that's exactly how I felt with this novel. I really enjoy authors who take on the difficult task of writing about real historical figures who we didn't know everything about. The what-if questions these authors ask are always so thoughtful. Nattel created an entire life for Lily after her disappearance in 1943.

Time was separated by Lily's time as Pilot and Prisoner, with some outer perspective chapters sprinkled throughout, and it was such an engaging format. The lines blurred for Lily, with survival becoming her top priority. Many facets of humanity were shown throughout Lily's time with both the Russians and Germans.

The forces and ideals driving the main characters forward were explored quite a bit, but at its heart, this book was about survival and the perspective about how much we are willing to do to keep moving forward. Lily's life would have been over either way if anyone found out and exposed her true identity, so it was interesting to see how she navigated the very muddy waters of her new existence.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. I had previously read and loved all of Lilian Nattel’s previous three novels. This book had a strong heroine who accomplished a lot through spunk and determination in WWII. It should have been compelling, but was rarely more than mildly interesting in my opinion. The writing was good, but I felt the author’s focus was more on using beautiful language than on either plot or character development. I wanted more from this book, especially more action. I was also interested and in the mood for WWII historical fiction, but I just did not like it from that standpoint, either. There were dual timelines but there were so many characters and the timelines so close together that it was confusing and a chore to get through. All that being said, I would whole-heartedly recommend any of Nattel’s other books. They are great, this is not.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is based on the life of a young woman known as White Lily of Stalingrad who was a flying ace and fighter pilot in WWII. In real life she disappeared in combat in 1943. Author Nattel fills in the gaps of this small teenager who lied about her age so that she'd be accepted to be a pilot in the war against the Germans.
This is a fascinating story and I love historical fiction. It makes it even more interesting because it is from the perspective of a soviet citizen.
I just found it hard many times to keep track of the story or to know what exactly was going on. It went back and forth too many times and lost me in the uneven flow. However, the detail and descriptive scenes the author created were impressive.

[DocGill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting story, told from the other side of the so-called Iron Curtain, but the prose really hampers the telling of Lily's life and experiences. Sometimes, it was so bad - disjointed and fragmented words, sentences and paragraphs - that I was convinced it was a translation rather than written by an English speaker. By the time I was 3/4 of the way through, I just wanted to get it finished and move on to something else. A shame, because I would like to have had more sympathy with the characters in the book, but they are too shallowly painted and disappear with startling alacrity every few pages. A disappointment.

[Litzsiereads · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Star- DNF (60%)

I tried really hard to finish this one. If it wasn't for listening to the audiobook I wouldn't have made it this far. Unfortunately, the Girl at the Edge of the Sky is a DNF because I couldn't get into the flow or intention of the novel. I was intrigued by the premise and was looking forward to reading Lilian Nattel's creativity into Lily Litvyak life and death but I was disinterested in both timelines. It was new for me to learn about the war horse rehabilitation system, and was the only thing I was interested in. Otherwise, I was not captivated by Lily. This was just not for me.

[Aarohak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy reading this book. The concept was great if it had been written better. The writing style did not do justice to the story, and I had to just flip through the pages to complete the book (my OCD does not allow me to put a book down until I finish it.). I could not connect to the character or stay engaged. This genre has high expectations owing to great stories out there. Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. I was expecting a strong story revolving around a personality like hers.

[Jenn Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the story overall, once I finished the book and could reflect on it, the amount that the story jumped around made it difficult to focus on and keep up with as I worked through the book. Normally I make my way through books quickly, but this one took longer as I had to stop and think about what was happening more frequently. I gave a 4 star because I enjoyed the story, but I would have liked it better in mostly or entirely chronological order.

[Greer Andjanetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally well-written book. Not an easy book to read, it is a very grim (apparently true) story of a young Russian Jewish girl who loves to fly and becomes a fighter pilot during the war. Representation of life in Europe during the war and Russia anytime is always difficult and the author does an excellent job of depicting the poverty, hardship and discrimination endured by so many people of that time and place. Not a pleasant story but captivating.

[EP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok but it seemed to try to pack too much into it. The Soviet philosophy on heroism and duty vs the Nazi view , combined with the survival approaches of different Jewish communities was a very good story but it was cluttered with lots of combat detail which, frankly took away from the story. The mindset of the central character was clear after the first few sorties in her plane. It didn't need to get repeated over and over to make the story work.

[Tamara Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I read this book as it was chosen in the bookclub I am in. I was disgruntled to have to read a war book, for obvious reasons I find it heartbreaking. I thought throughout the book, "I am going to give this one star. I hate this book." However, what I hate is war. The author, Liliana Nattel deserves many stars for her effort, courage, and stamina to share the story of Lily with us. Ultimately, I am glad I stuck with this book.

[Debbi Neufeglise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book but it took a while to get into it. The jumping to different time periods threw me off for a while. Once in my head the time frames got straightened out, I really enjoyed it. The bravery of the ones that survived any of the wars, completely amazes me. Such bravery in situations that are difficult to imagine.

[Jenn Proche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read and great story of the little known history of female pilots for the Soviet Union in the second world war. Insights on the battle mentality of the soviets (defeat is unacceptable, including being captured). Battle between Lily's desire to be a pilot in a male dominated field, as well her battle to save her life both from the Germans as well as from her own government.

[Laraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was a very interesting read about a woman who as a teenager, became a pilot for the Russians against the Germans in WWII. Based on a real woman, it was fascinating to discover how Lily became a pilot, her exploits in the air and on the ground, her family background and how she might have got through the war. A very interesting read.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Litvyak is a Soviet Flying Ace in the war against the Germans yet is underestimated by everyone, living under a system whose values and expectations are weighty and largely unfathomable in the West. The story that Nattel creates is seamlessly realistic and hopeful. I loved this book. I found the pacing a little chaotic but that may have been deliberate.

[Caroline Vanslyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passable but not too special. I found myself losing track of the characters and what they were adding to the story. There was potential to explore women Ww2 Russian pilots, but not enough depth to catch my interest.

[Brandi Alcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. A look into the what might have happened to Soviet fighter pilot Lily Litviak. The book flows through past and present and outlines a part of ww2 not normally explored in historical fiction.

[Elaine Ricker Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great historical fiction set in WW2. I hadn't read or heard much about the Russian front before this novel, and I love that it is based on the true story of a female fighter pilot. The author's research shines through in detailing the horrors and beauty in a very personal way.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Blanche · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 overdrive audio book unfortunately not one of my favorites. Maybe because this was a similar story line to The Huntress which I recently read, but not near as good... 😕

[Mary Ellen Anaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this story a 3 out of 5. It is historical fiction based on fact, about the life of a female Soviet Pilot, Lily Litvyak.