SYNOPSIS

In Edwardian England, aeroplanes are a new, magical invention, while female pilots are rare indeed.

When shy Della Dobbs meets her mother's aunt, her life changes forever. Great Auntie Betty has come home from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, across whose windswept dunes the Wright Brothers tested their historic flying machines. Della develops a burning ambition to fly and Betty is determined to help her.

But the Great War is coming, and it threatens to destroy everything - and everyone - Della loves.

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

JUSTIFICATION

I must admit that this kind of literature I would have never set my eyes on, probably it would have never drawn my attention. But, I, a keen traveller and reader, each time I travel I buy at least one book in the country that I visit. Last year, in September, I went to Edinburgh and, of course, I visited Waterstones (It is an amazing bookstore, three or four floors full of books of any kind. The perfect place to get lost! A must-see for book lovers who travel to Edinburgh). When I came in, I was looking around like if I was in some kind of heaven. Immediately my eyes set on this book. Its cover, its colors, it attracted me and suddenly I have felt that I should buy this book, and that I will eventually love it. And indeed, it did. I turned the book to read the blurb and then I look for the Goodreads’ mark (4.47/5 stars). All I read assured me that it was a history about a brave woman in a man's world, the aviation, during the first half of the 20th century and the First World War. The book smelled of courage, feminism, self-esteem, empowerment. I bought it unhesitantly and, luckily, I was right.

PLOT

The plot starts with a plain girl called Della. She thinks that she is giftless until her aunt Betty opens her eyes. Betty showed Della that she is skillful doing mechanical works and, talking to her about the work of the Wright Brothers, the pioneers of the aviation and the aviatrix, it started to develop inside of her a fervish passion for flying. For then on, she started to build kites with her aunt and they went to the beach of Cleethorpes to fly them. There, she met Dud Wilson. He is going to help her to carry out her desire for flying and later, he is going to be a key person in Della's life. Her parents didn't support her and, helped by her aunt, motivated by Dud and working, she's finally able to pay for flying lessons and for the flying license. In a time when being a woman and, on top of that, being a working woman was a hard thing to achieve and it was disapproved. Della had to overcome thousands of obstacles and, when the IWW broke out she is set aside and has to work as errand girl and helping a woman in a mechanics workshop whose husband and son went to the war. Thus, women, had to take the place of men who went to the work. But that it's not all, during the war it develops a beautiful relationship both typical and atypical that, even though sometimes it is forced to continue with the story and to justify actions and events, it hooks you and makes you love it.

CHARACTERS

· Della: I totally love her. She is a well-constructed character, a persistent woman who fights for her dreams and never give up. She does not care about the prefixed position of women in society because she will fight as hard as she can to achieve her dream: become an aviatrix in the 20th-century Britain. She teaches a great lesson, although you think that you are giftless, you have a spark inside of you, so you just must look for it, develop it and let it shine and guide your life.

· Dud: he is an important character who helps Della to go through life, to follow her dream, and he will become her best friend and maybe something more…

· Betty: She is the great aunt. She arrives when Della is in need and helps her to make up her mind. She introduces Della in the aviation world and help her to build the kites. She also becomes the role model of Della. As the story goes on, you will love her because she is lovable!

ATMOSPHERE

Rebecca Mascull is great. She transports you and you see yourself lost in the twentieth century. You could imagine how the old planes were, and how amazed the people felt about them. You also empathize with Della and her discrimination for being a woman. You feel the horror of the hideous war. You are so lost inside the book that the hours passed by and you did not notice it, until suddenly, you realized that you had finish the book.

WRITING STYLE

The writing style was easy-going. It was a plain and clear style, very easy to read. She is not a writer who uses a pedantic form of writing, using too pompous or boastful words. Instead, she writes for everybody, she wanted to reach everybody with her writing style and she achieves it. It is a book that can be read and understand by everyone, allowing it to touch us and to give us goosebumps. Highly recommendable if you just want to enjoy, relax and get away by reading.

GENERAL COMMENT

Firstly, it was hard for me to get hooked, and after reading some pages, I started to feel disappointed. But, as I never give up, I force myself to continue, and every effort has its rewards. It thrilled me as few books have already done. This was the second book, in all my life, that made me cry (the first was Love Story) and I am in love with its spirit of freedom and love. Thousands of times I felt like Della, for me what it matters is my life and my dreams, rather than marry and accomplish what it is expected from me as a woman. How beautiful is to imagine all those women, each in her time, who fought against the social conventions, against a society and a politico-economic system who forced women to stay home, have children and be a slave of her husband.

-Saru.