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The Wild Air

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The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull

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By Rebecca Mascull

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4 reviews

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.

Uplifting and page-turning, THE WILD AIR is a story about love, loss and following your dreams against all odds.

Reviews

10 Oct 2018

skeetgodow

The world of early aviation is very interesting to me and this tale of Female aviators at the turn of the century was a lovely read. This historically based book allowed me to fly in the early open cockpit airplanes with a woman who had to battle determinedly to simple be taught to fly. I got to experience the sever sexism of the times and imagine my trying to keep my skirts from flying up, engine oil spattering into my face and learn to navigate through senses other than sight. This is also the story of love between and man and woman and woman and her all consuming love for flying.

25 Jun 2018

x

Particularly good evocation of the exhilaration of flight and condemnation of the futility and waste of war. Well-worth a read.
I would recommend this book.

30 Dec 2017

St Regulus AJ

This book is a gem. Beautifully crafted, witten and researched it deserves all the praise it receives. Set in the First World War, it follows the life of an introverted little girl as she grows to maturity. Life has not dealt her a good hand: a remote, yet overbearing father who rarely speaks to this young daughter and remains closeted in his room; much older sisters who leave home and leave Della to fight her own battles. Her saviour is the return from America of Great Aunt Betty who sees potential in her young niece and instils in the girl her own love of flght. In the very earliest days of aviation, let alone women flyers, these two women carve out an untrod path and the author weaves a believable tale. Historically accurate, this book entertains and educates and is a wondderful read.

02 Nov 2017

JennyC

A wonderful novel about the early days of Aviation prior to and during WW1. At the start of the book we meet Della, a shy, plain 15 year-old who lives at home with her family and has no real friends, preferring to spend her time alone. Enter Aunt Betty who returns from America after being widowed, an unusual lady not bound by convention. In the States she lived in the area where the Wright Brothers tested their early flying machines and she introduces Della to the concept of flight. This captures Della’s imagination and she becomes obsessed with aviation, both the mechanical aspects of it as well as the flying itself and fuelled by this passion, combined with a newly found confidence inspired and encouraged by her Aunt Betty, she embarks on a real adventure story. This is the story of what happens to Della in her determination to succeed in a man’s domain.

The author has obviously spent a long time studying the subject matter and the result is a fascinating novel. She is also very good at characterisation. I loved Della and really wanted her to realise her dreams. The other cast members are also well developed and seem completely genuine. In fact, all the aviators that Della meets on her journey are real people, taken from history and transposed into fiction, a very clever gadget on the part of the author. Della’s journey is not an easy one and her story is both riveting and heartbreaking. She dared to be different and is not only pioneering but also strong, courageous and determined.

I approached this book with some trepidation as it was not a subject matter which I knew anything about, nor one which I thought interested me greatly. How wrong I was!!

This is a great book. It is as easy to read as a “holiday read” yet there is so much more to it. I was gripped and couldn’t put it down. It is clearly very well researched, giving a real picture of the start of man-made flight, the progress made in the early years, the difficulties and prejudices faced by women trying to enter a man’s world and the part that aeroplanes played in WW1. I have never read a Rebecca Mascull book before, but I will certainly be looking out for her in the future and would recommend this book to anyone.

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