FOR LOVE AND GLORY

Bonner’s sweeping historical romance, set during World War II, highlights the importance of flight and the power of love.

Lange DeLony is a poor civilian pilot in Texas when he receives word that his estranged wife, Becky, who was unfaithful to him, has been killed in a car accident. He wants to find a greater purpose in life and has been tracking the war in Europe—his sister’s three children live in France—so he decides to travel to Canada to try to become a pilot in the Royal Air Force, where he believes he can make a difference. Soon, he’s sent to England, where, on a train, a beautiful woman in uniform literally falls into his lap. The romantic relationship between Mackie McLeod and DeLony may be the main love story, but the main focus of Bonner’s novel is its portrayal of other types of connections between people, made more poignant by the struggles of wartime. As scenes move among England, the United States, and France, with occasional spells in other European countries, Bonner paints an emotive, yet never romanticized, tale of the human experience of armed conflict. Some parts of the novel even quickly skip forward in time—in particular, a section about resistance groups and prisoner of war camps. Flight enthusiasts will surely enjoy the well-researched passages about DeLony’s fictional experiences of the Battle of Britain, with its many references to real planes and places that played crucial roles in the event. Most compelling, though, is Bonner’s exploration of the relationship between DeLony and his caring father, whose gradually worsening health through a succession of strokes leave him without the ability to speak.

An often affecting wartime romance that ably addresses both the military and civilian experience.