Amelia Carr - Dance With Wings

this is the story of an American girl, Nancy, who as an experienced pilot, is recruited into the Air Transport Auxiliary in England to fly new planes from the factories to air Force stations all over the UK during WW11.
Many of the pilots involved were women and the job was dangerous and difficult, requiring great skill both in handling the different planes and in navigation, often in bad weather, without any of the modern technology that we take for granted today.
Nancy, engaged to an all-American boy from her Florida home town, meets and Englishman to whom she is instantly attracted, and the story of their troubled romance is the main core of the book, which begins with Nancy in old age, sending her grand-daughter on a mission to England to try to lay to rest the ghosts of her past. Nancy's oldest child, John, was killed in an air accident, leving her other son and daughter convinced that their mother preferred John to either of them and thus causing all sorts of problems of their own making which have resulted in terrible bitterness and estrangement which has lasted for years.
Sarah, Nancy's granddaughter, gradually unearths all the secrets that have been hidden for so long, the amzing story of her grandmother's bravery during the War and the reason why Nancy and her lover never married.
The book is saved from being just another love story by excellent writing, great feeling for life during the War and tremendous descriptions of both people and location. Apparently it is Amelia Carr's first novel and I very much hope another will be produced before too long. This is a big book, nearly 600 pages and the reader is held from beginning to end. If you are going away this winter, it will make absolutely perfect holiday reading.
Review by Babs Simpson on show 15th Oct