An exciting but uneven war tale about a heroic female pilot.
In this historical novel, an orphaned American woman is given the rarest opportunity—to become a combat pilot during World War II.
Twyla Campbell grows up in Boonville, California, the daughter of a fighter pilot who saw action in World War I. Her childhood is a happy one filled with love, but all that is shattered when she loses her entire family in a plane accident and is suddenly an orphan. Now, her life becomes a grim one filled with toil and sexual abuse under the tyrannical custodianship of Castor and Edna Gultch, relatives who take her in. Twyla is saved from that hell by Llewellyn “Lew” Haliday, a local boy, and his best friend, Wiley Felton, who kills Castor. Twyla marries Lew in 1941, and he teaches her how to fly, a skill that quickly becomes a passion. Lew is stationed as a pilot in Honolulu, and while there with him, Twyla is inadvertently drawn into a fight with the Japanese bombers attacking Pearl Harbor—Lew will later brag that she was the first pilot to confront the enemy in World War II. At the time, she is flying with Butch McCuskey, who strongly responds to her bravery: “We’re in it now. Leave it to a dame to go flyin’ on this day! Grabbin’ the wheel! Trying to kill us! Four hundred hours in a puddle jumper is not combat flying! No idea what yer doing! Thank yer lucky stars I’m a fighter hero! You owe your ass to me, little missy!” Later, Twyla will join the Women’s Air Force Service, a program that used female pilots for noncombat missions such as ferrying supplies. Twyla seems destined for combat, though—she is shot down, captured by the Germans, and rescued by Russian soldiers. Then she is afforded an extraordinary opportunity—to fly, and even see combat, for the Red Army.
Very little has been written about the female pilots who flew during the war, a story as fascinating as it is unfortunately neglected. Bellen provides a captivating portrayal of the risks these women took and the sacrifices they made, a service not always duly recognized. In addition, the depiction of the aerial combat is electrifying—the author draws these scenes with cinematic vivacity. But the plot as a whole is a slow amble—many readers will wish the nearly 400-page book had been cut to half its length. Bellen weighs down the story with too many digressions and detours, and the result is a messy pastiche of subplots. Moreover, the author aims too laboriously for the poetically profound, and that strain expresses itself in overwrought writing and unabashed sentimentality: “What is the point of flying and death? Why must the two collaborate? Flying is a poem of personal, physical exaltation. Not a means to end one’s life. It is a celebration. That is all.” Unfortunately, this emotional unwieldiness pervades much of the novel. An exciting but uneven war tale about a heroic female pilot.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 406
Publisher: Write My Wrongs LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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