Two young daredevil flyers confront ugly truths and family secrets during the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, from the author of The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch.Louis Thorn and Haruto “Harry” Yamada—Eagle and Crane—are the star attractions of Earl Shaw’s Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The … Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family’s belief that the Yamadas—Japanese immigrants—stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family.
When Louis and Harry become aerial stuntmen, performing death-defying tricks high above audiences, they’re both drawn to Shaw’s smart and appealing stepdaughter, Ava Brooks. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and one of Shaw’s planes mysteriously crashes and two charred bodies are discovered in it, authorities conclude that the victims were Harry and his father, Kenichi, who had escaped from a Japanese internment camp they had been sent to by the federal government. To the local sheriff, the situation is open and shut. But to the lone FBI agent assigned to the case, the details don’t add up.
Thus begins an investigation into what really happened to cause the plane crash, who was in the plane when it fell from the sky, and why no one involved seems willing to tell the truth. By turns an absorbing mystery and a fascinating exploration of race, family and loyalty, Eagle and Crane is that rare novel that tells a gripping story as it explores a terrible era of American history.
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Suzanne Rindell takes to the heavens in this glorious story of two daring aviators during the Great Depression. She’s written an epic love story set against a time of upheaval, suspicion and change. A magnificent novel from a great writer.
In this blazing saga about a flying circus, Rindell performs death-defying plot twists that race toward the shocking conclusion. Eagle & Crane is a majestic historical novel that is profoundly relevant in today’s world.
5 stars for Suzanne Rindell’s Eagle and Crane. Truly a beautiful story. It was: Riveting, Moving, a page turner, did not see the mystery ending coming at all, amazing characters and locale. Enjoyed this book greatly.
A white-knuckled historical mystery and collision course of cultures, Eagle & Crane threads a fascinating tale through the half-silenced world of Japanese internment in America. Timely, expertly researched, and provocative.
Elegantly interweaving a lyrical love triangle with the spectacle of Depression-era barnstorming, the plight of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, and a bitter family feud spanning generations, Eagle & Crane poignantly plumbs still deeper waters: how far loyalty and friendship can be tested, and what it means to be an American.
This was really a 3.5 book for me but I bumped it up to 4 stars because I think there is some good writing and great character development here.
We are introduced to a mystery right from the beginning of the novel. There is a police investigator looking into the plane crash of a private plane carrying a Japanese father and son who had escaped from an internment camp. The book is written in alternating perspectives by the main characters.
Harry Yamada and Louis Thorn grew up side by side on land on the California coast, both families farming, one more successful than the other. Louis grew up always being told that the Yamada’s somehow had stolen land that belonged to the Thorn’s and they had the richer more fertile parcel. He is never really given a true explanation of what happened.
Without going into the plot they eventually end up, boosted by Harry’s daredevil spirit, becoming wing walkers on an airplane for the sake of entertainment. They would travel to smaller towns where there wasn’t much in the way of excitement and gather as many people as they could, perform their show and then take people up for rides. Louis and Harry become comfortable with each other again, having to depend on each other for the show and the money that it enables them to send back “home”. We are able to see the effects of the depression on not only these families but those living in the small towns along the coast.
There is a love triangle with Ava being the center of attention and both Harry and Louis love her. Ava and her mother Chloe were working with a shady “cure all tonic” salesman, Earl, and they become the set up people advertising the show, selling lemonade and tickets for rides
There is a good story here and the characters are well developed. It does go back and forth in time but the story flows well. There is also the concurrent story of the investigator and how he gathers information and the conclusions he comes to. This book was a little slow going for me, there were definitely parts where it lagged but it was well worth the read and the ending is a good one.
While it is definitely historical fiction, it doesn’t really go into much depth about the Japanese internment camps, but that was fine, I don’t think it set out to be a story about that. There are quite a few other books that I’ve read if one wants to read about the internment camps more in depth. This was the story of these young people dealing with a decades old family rivalry and how it affected them and how they lived their lives.
The ending is a good one and I would recommend it for an easy day’s read. I will definitely look for more books by this talented author.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.