A stunning book of love loss and romance etc, but really just an incredible true story that I cant believe I knew nothing about before reading this! Based on the ATA girls of World War II, incredible women who flew everything from Bomber planes and Spitfires from factories to airbases as part of the war effort. The girls in the book, Evie the fabulous one, Stella the concerned mother with a great tragic back story and my favourite, young Megan the welsh farmers daughter, come together to fly for the ATA and have to live together in a tiny cottage. They all come from all over, with interesting reasons for flying that make it something you can really imagine, like Evie who's desperate for adventure and Stella who just wants to escape and build up her confidence. This book captures an incredible time and place so well, whilst still being a really nice easy read about characters you can get to grips with. There are scenes of action that highlight the incredibly dangerous job they did (they weren't allowed to fly with weaponry or navigation!) and then wonderful humour and exciting romance and friendships. It gave me everything a good book should.
I'm partly writing this review on behalf of my Grandma, who loved this book as much as I did. I think that shows the true broad appeal of this book, my Grandma loved the setting whereas I felt really touched that girls like me in their early twenties were so brave and strong to fly these great planes in dangerous conditions.
Thrilling, heart warming and fascinating true stuff - a great gift for a female relative.
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