The Long Flight Home, Alan Hlad
The Long Flight Home, Alan Hlad
1 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Long Flight Home

Author: Alan Hlad

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 10 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/25/2019


Synopsis

It is September 1940—a year into the war—and as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie. After losing her parents to influenza as a child, Susan found comfort in raising homing pigeons with Bertie. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan—loyal, intelligent, beautiful—but none more so than Duchess, who shares a special bond with Susan and an unusual curiosity about the human world.

Thousands of miles away in Buxton, Maine, a young crop-duster pilot named Ollie Evans has decided to travel to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. His quest brings him to Epping and to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment. Codenamed Source Columba, the mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France. Many will not survive. Those that do make the journey home to England can convey crucial information on German troop movements—and help reclaim the skies from the Luftwaffe.

The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. When Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. Yet Duchess's devotion and her singular sense of duty will become an unexpected lifeline.

About Alan Hlad

Alan Hlad is the internationally bestselling author of historical fiction novels inspired by real people and events of WWI and WWII, including The Book Spy, Churchill's Secret Messenger, A Light Beyond the Trenches, and the USA Today and IndieBound bestseller The Long Flight Home. A member of the Historical Novel Society, Literary Cleveland, Novelitics, and the Akron Writers' Group, he is a frequent speaker at conferences, literary events, and book club gatherings. He currently divides his time between Ohio and Portugal.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John

The Long Flight Home was an intriguing read. I was not sure what to expect from the novel. Did it focus on the war effort or romance? Alan Hlad was successful in blending both. I was concerned at first that it would be overly romantic for my tastes. Initially I was afraid my concerns would be met. T......more

Goodreads review by Annette

Epping, England, Sept. 1940: Susan Shepherd postpones her zoology study at the University of London in lieu of a more important endeavor – raising war pigeons. Buxton, Maine, Sept. 1940: Ollie Evans postpones his study in aeronautical engineering due to his father’s accident on the potato farm. Ollie......more