Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The Flight of Flamingo by Elizabeth Darrell

Post Reply
User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

The Flight of Flamingo by Elizabeth Darrell

Post by Misfit » Wed July 22nd, 2015, 5:52 pm

Being the only girl in a stronghold of self-absorbed males was unbearably lonely: being ignored by every one of them was painful enough to make her long for a return to Switzerland for the new term.
The girl: Leone is the daughter of Sir Hector Kirkland, a fabulously wealthy (and powerful!) builder of sea planes. She's sixteen at the start and her only purpose in life (as her father and brother see it), is to decorate the house with her glamorous presence when she's home from her fancy Swiss school.
What could an orphaned engineering student deeply in debt offer a man who could snap his fingers and make practically anything happen?
The guy: Kit Anson, who was 'adopted' by Sir Hector after the tragic death of his airplane designing parent and made a member of the household. He's sent to the best schools, has the fastest cars, etc. Kit has inherited his father's skill at designing airplanes, and to top that off he's an ace pilot and after setting a new speed record with Kirkland's latest seaplane, he's on top of the world. Women are tossing themselves at his feet, even young Leone.
This girl he was swiftly subduing was only sixteen. What was more, her name was Kirkland. Both facts put her out of bounds to him, dangerously out of bounds.
So what could go wrong and turn Kit's life upside down? Can't tell you, but it's a doozy and Kit compounds things by taking what he thinks is his due, and he hits rock bottom and may never look up again.

FF a few years and Kirkland's is ready to launch a new seaplane for passenger flight and they need to make a splash among potential investors, and they do it with an oh-so-glamorous flight to Africa and back, including an on board chef and overnight stops in only the best hotels.
The notion of a flying boat with pink seats and walls, filled with financiers and diamond-decked ladies destined to be served haute cuisine meals in mid-air, was a dazzling enough prospect for anyone.
Can't tell you much more, but with those events the author stirred up the most delicious cocktail for a high altitude blend of drama, angst and a bit of romance. And oh, that nail-biting rescue on a tiny lake in the middle of nowhere Africa - no one should have been able to do it, but with the right pilot and the right aircraft what could go wrong?

Well...fasten your seatbelts for one heck of a bumpy ride. There's plenty of aeronautical derring-do, plus plentiful ups and downs and near-death moments leaving the reader on pins and needles waiting to find out who (if anyone) survived. I'm not a die-hard aviation geek, but even I was fascinated at all the flight details and near-death accidents and heroic rescues. Who knew the Mediterranean Sea was such a dangerous hot bed leading up to and through the second war? Who knew seaplanes could be so glamorous?

About the only thing I'd caution potential readers is that this book does not have the strong romantic elements penned by Emma Drummond. It's there way deep below the surface, but don't expect something like you'll find in Forget The Glory or Scarlet Shadows. Outside of Leone's father and brother (and the Nazis), there are no real bad guys, and no unwanted spouse who must die before the main couple get their HEA. Still, I found this darned near unputdownable and lost a few hours of sleep to get the nail-biting finish. Only one caveat, there is a twist at the end that I know will turn off some readers ---->>slight spoiler (view spoiler)

My copy obtained via Kindle Unlimited.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

Post Reply

Return to “By Author's Last Name A-F”