An entertaining and informative work of historical fiction with a strong female protagonist.
A revised edition of Wells’ 2010 aeronautical adventure novel, set in the mid-1930s during an exciting period of aviation design and technological development.
As the novel opens, 20-something Maggie Rockwell, an experienced horse rider, is preparing for a breathtaking stunt that she’s about to perform for a Hollywood movie. While racing on her horse, chased by Old West villains, she’s to escape by grabbing a ladder dangling from an airplane flown by her rescuer. Piloting the plane is Luke Whitney, a decorated World War I aviator, stunt pilot, and veteran of the aeronautical Bendix Trophy Race from New York to Los Angeles. He’s also been giving Maggie lessons in stunt flying, and she has her heart set on entering this year’s Bendix Race, which has just reopened to women, who were barred from the race for several years. Maggie is determined to win, but she needs money, a plane, and a sponsor. Meanwhile, Fernando Underwood, an aeronautical engineering student, stable manager, and polo instructor extraordinaire, is working at the racetrack near the film-shoot location. He’s a handsome, multitalented man of mystery who’s working to pay his way through college; before long, his and Maggie’s paths cross, and a romance ensues. Wells’ novel was inspired by the actual 1936 Bendix Trophy Race, which was won for the first time by two women (Louise Thaden and Blanche Wilcox Noyes). The relationship between Maggie and Fernando adds a tender, engaging touch to the proceedings. However, the novel’s main strength rests in the explicit descriptions of the new Staggerwing biplane that Maggie pilots during the race—a revolutionary design that positions the front end of the bottom wing ahead of the top. There are also spectacular depictions of life-threatening situations that Bendix Trophy competitors encounter, as well as a virtual primer on polo’s exciting aspects. However, Wells does tend to repeat information, such as Fernando’s backstory, and his prose is too often filled with superlatives: “Both of her greatest flying dreams were being fulfilled, and her joy and enthusiasm were boundless.” Still, aviation enthusiasts will appreciate the abundant aeronautical details.
An entertaining and informative work of historical fiction with a strong female protagonist.Pub Date: April 28, 2025
ISBN: 9798991258401
Page Count: 331
Publisher: Patagonia
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best news of all: The climax leaves the door open to further reports from the hilariously misnamed British Intelligence.
A series of mounting complications leads to yet another fight to the death between the discarded intelligence agents of Slough House and the morally bankrupt head of MI5.
As Jackson Lamb’s motley crew on Aldersgate Street struggles to cope with the deaths of River Cartwright’s grandfather and mentor, intelligence veteran David Cartwright, and their dim, beloved colleague Min Harper, new troubles are brewing. Diana Taverner, who runs the British Intelligence Service from Regent’s Park, is being blackmailed by former MP Peter Judd to do his bidding. Nothing untoward about that, of course, but this time, Judd’s demands, backed by a compromising tape recording, are more pressing than usual. So Diana reconvenes the Brains Trust—Al Hawke, Avril Potts, Daisy Wessex, and their ex-boss Charles Cornell Stamoran—whose last assignment was to serve as the contact for psychopathic IRA informant Dougie Malone while turning a blind eye to his multiple rapes and murders, which were really none of the Crown’s business. Taverner’s new assignment for the Brains Trust is the assassination of Judd. Since all these developments are filtered through the riotously cynical lens of Herron’s imagination, nothing goes as planned, and when the smoke clears, the fatalities don’t include Judd. Now that Judd knows he has as much reason to fear Taverner as she does to fear him, Lamb offers to broker a peace meeting between them which Slough House computer geek Roddy Ho will keep secret by knocking out 37 security cameras around Taverner’s dwelling. What could possibly go wrong?
The best news of all: The climax leaves the door open to further reports from the hilariously misnamed British Intelligence.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781641297264
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Soho Crime
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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