Books & Java

Flight of Dreams

by Ariel Lawhon

Synopsis:

On the evening of May 3, 1937, Emilie Imhof boards the Hindenburg. As the only female crew member, Emilie has access to the entire airship, from the lavish dining rooms and passenger suites to the gritty engine cars and control room. She hears everything, but with rumors circulating about bomb threats, Emilie’s focus is on maintaining a professional air…and keeping her own plans under wraps.

What Emilie can’t see is that everyone—from the dynamic vaudeville acrobat to the high-standing German officer—seems to be hiding something.

Giving free rein to countless theories of sabotage, charade, and mishap, Flight of Dreams takes us on the thrilling three-day transatlantic flight through the alternating perspectives of Emilie; Max, the ship’s navigator who is sweet on her; Gertrud, a bold female journalist who’s been blacklisted in her native Germany; Werner, a thirteen-year-old cabin boy with a bad habit of sneaking up on people; and a brash American who’s never without a drink in his hand. Everyone knows more than they initially let on, and as the novel moves inexorably toward its tragic climax, the question of which of the passengers will survive the trip infuses every scene with a deliciously unbearable tension.

With enthralling atmospheric details that immediately transport and spellbinding plotting that would make Agatha Christie proud, Flight of Dreams will keep you guessing till the last page. And, as The New York Times Book Review said of her last novel, “This book is more meticulously choreographed than a chorus line. It all pays off.”

My Review:

I knew so little about the ill-fated Hindenburg. All I knew and I'm embarrassed to admit to my ignorance is that it's fate was sealed when they opted to use hydrogen instead of helium. However, I did not know that the Germans used Nitrogen because the Helium they would have needed came from the US and we had refused it to them. The Hindenburg was one of Hitler's many attempts at showing the world that Germany was a power to contend with. Ariel Lawhon uses her artistic license to elaborate on the possible stories and motives of those few 90 or so who took the journey from Europe to its never reached destination of New Jersey. There are multiple stories in the book. We take the journey along with an mysterious American, a cabin boy, a stewardess, a journalist and her husband, a navigator, an heiress and her 3 children and other lesser characters that each have a unique story to share. I found it fascinating that had the Hindenburg not met its fiery demise in such a horrid way, the journey across the Atlantic was actually rather dull. Not the story, mind you, as A. Lawhon writes each character in such an engrossing way that the explosion and famous downing of the grand dirigible seems simply just a matter-of-fact piece of the story.  But the whole journey takes several days and it is just minutes from arrival that it meets its fiery end.

At the end of the book there is a piece written by the author on how she came about writing this story. That part was intriguing.

The book was a fantastic read that will capture your attention from the very first page.