The 1930s and 1947 swoop onto the page with the early days of aviation, from local displays to lengthy flights, to the tragedies of the Spanish Civil War. HER LAST FLIGHT loosely recalls the aviatrix Amelia Earhart, made all the more poignant because in 2024 her plane wreck was mistakenly thought to have been found.
This work of historical fiction centres on Irene Foster, who started flying in California and took advantage of the growing publicity around the daring sport. Trained by aviation pioneer Sam Mallory, she teamed up with him for endurance flights. But a photojournalist and war correspondent, Janey Everett, arrives on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1947, looking for answers. She has discovered a crashed Spanish Civil War plane with the remains of a flyer and believes it to be Sam Mallory who disappeared at that time. Why he ended up in a Spanish desert is just one of the questions.
Irene Lindquist, an older lady, operates a tour service between the Hawaiian Islands with her husband, Olaf Lindquist. Janey Everett suspects this pilot is Irene Foster, who vanished at the height of her fame during a round-the-world race in 1937. Why would she leave her flying career, and her husband and manager in Southern California, George Morrow? Mrs Lindquist isn’t interested in sharing her story.
With references to Charles Lindbergh and Earhart, and the press of the day, the book is very atmospheric, even if the journalist’s smoking habit and her similarly frequent dating habit seem overdone. There are a good few surfing interludes, which show that people can have more than one interest, but seem to pad out the tale. Having the action set in two time periods also slows us down a little, constantly going back to the start as Janey puts together a biography of the two pilots. An unexpected hero is Raoul Velázquez de los Monteros, a loyal Spaniard fighting fascism soon to overcome his country. Mainly, I enjoyed the ginger cat, Sandy, which links the tale as a kitten in the early chapters and a constant companion.
HER LAST FLIGHT is a stirring romance for adult readers and could appeal to women and men equally. While it’s not a thriller, there are thrilling moments. Like searching the sea for a speck of rock and sand to land on, or heading for the awfulness of a bombed city. Beatriz Williams has carefully researched the technology, chaos and manipulation of the 1930s and 40s, pulling together a story of bravery and love for all time.
The beloved author returns with a remarkable novel of both raw suspense and lyric beauty— the story of a lost pilot and a wartime photographer that will leave its mark on your soul.
In 1947, photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote surfing village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a planned biography of forgotten aviation pioneer Sam Mallory, who joined the loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War and never returned. Obsessed with Sam’s fate, Janey has tracked down Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline, whom she believes might actually be the legendary Irene Foster, Mallory’s onetime student and flying partner. Foster’s disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937 remains one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries.
At first, the flinty Mrs. Lindquist denies any connection to Foster. But Janey informs her that the wreck of Sam Mallory’s airplane has recently been discovered in a Spanish desert, and piece by piece, the details of Foster’s extraordinary life emerge: from the beginnings of her flying career in Southern California, to her complicated, passionate relationship with Mallory, to the collapse of her marriage to her aggressive career manager, the publishing scion George Morrow.
As Irene spins her tale to its searing conclusion, Janey’s past gathers its own power. The duel between the two women takes a heartstopping turn. To whom does Mallory rightfully belong? Can we ever come to terms with the loss of those we love, and the lives we might have lived?
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