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Helen Humphries is also the author of a collection of poems entitled "The Perils of Geography".

Reviews

Set against the backdrop of the Depression, this is a tale of grit and determination. Grace O'Gorman, famed female pilot, joins forces with the less experienced Willa Briggs to break the world flight endurance record by circling above Toronto for 25 days. As they navigate the skies, they develop a sign language to combat loneliness and fatigue. Their effort is simultaneously assisted and sabotaged by Grace's husband, who holds the current endurance record. He provides fuel and food every eight hours but feeds erroneous stories to their sponsor, the Adventure Girl Almanac. The pilots' adventures are interspersed with tales of those down below: a young girl who idolizes Grace, her fortune-telling mother, and her father, who runs the carousel at the local carnival. With life becoming increasingly dreary on the ground, people follow the women's progress in the skies, wanting to believe in personal triumph. An impressive debut.‘Kimberly G. Allen, Network MCI Lib., Washington, DC

Toronto in 1933 provides the setting for this captivating first novel about two aviatrixes who attempt to set a new world endurance record by flying 25 days nonstop, circling the city in the open cockpit of their Moth biplane. Veteran barnstormer "Air Ace" Grace O'Gorman chooses novice Willa Briggs as a last-minute replacement for her ailing co-pilot. As days pass, mechanical failures, nasty weather and chronic fatigue threaten to curtail the flight, while the two pilots, hoarse from yelling over the roar of the wind, become close friends, communicating through sign and touch. Meanwhile, in a parallel earthbound plot, young Maddy Stewart, who idolizes Air Ace Grace, struggles to maintain her equilibrium when her Jewish mother, a carnival fortune-teller, becomes the target of a Nazi-inspired hate group. The two plots intersect when Maddy pulls the fliers from their beached aircraft. Inspired by an actual event that occurred in the skies over Miami, Fla., Humphreys has captured the courage and commitment of aviation's unsung pioneers, the sights and sounds of earth and sky and the somber mood of 1930s Toronto, all with a precise lyricism that amply demonstrates her talent as a poet. (Sept.) FYI: Humphreys has received the Governor's General Prize for her poetry, and the Vancouver Sun named her Best Young Canadian Novelist in 1997.