Inspired by fascinating, true, yet little-known events during World War II, The Long Flight Home is a testament to the power of courage in our darkest hours—a moving, masterfully written story of love and sacrifice. 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 … 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. Hatched from an egg that Susan incubated in a bowl under her grandfather’s desk lamp, Duchess 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, relaying messages between Susan and Ollie as war rages on—and proving, at last, that hope is never truly lost.
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I was sent a copy of The Long Flight Home by Kensington Publishing Corp. I absolutely loved this book! I wasn’t real sure I would like it since it was a book about World War II and war stuff really isn’t my thing. The book does take place mainly in England and France during the war, and there are definitely events of the war going on for the characters, but it is about so much more. I learned a lot about how they used homing pigeons to help Britain in the war. I don’t think we learned about that in any history class. The story is fiction, but it’s based on true events. I felt close to the characters, Susan and her grandfather Bertie, who raise homing pigeons and Ollie, a crop duster from Maine USA who has come to England hoping to join the RAF. The author made me feel like I was right there with them, feeling their happiness, sadness and fear. I really like this author’s style of writing. The book flows well and reads fairly quick. There are some sad parts but I still felt like it was an uplifting story. I’m already telling others that they need to read this book.
Lovers of historical fiction will not want to miss The Long Flight Home. I enjoyed this story so much that I finished it and then a day later, started it again. I also found it interesting to learn about the role the pigeons and trainers played during the war.
This was a great book and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Good book historical facts
I really enjoyed this book, it wasn’t a fairytale ending but it was a real life situation. I enjoyed all the characters and believe this book was very well written with lots of emotion pouring from the pages. I recommend this book and loved reading it.
Based on true events, The Long Flight Home has everything I love in a novel — the sense of discovery, the epic drama of a life-or-death situation, and the soaring sense of hope gained from the depths of despair. It’s a gorgeous, impressive first novel by a hugely talented author.
A wonderful book and very interesting. I found this story to be inspiring and well thought out. It is set in WWII times which in itself is a sad area of history. I found it was written tastefully and showed the dedication and lives put into the act of survival during this hard time. Susan raised pigeons with her grandfather and was involived in the information gathering using trained pigeons. She meets Ollie Evans while in service with intel gathering. He is a pilot from the USA that joins the war effort with the Royal Air Force. The story tells how they use the pigeons to help defeat the germans and also to stay in touch safely. The characters are well defined and the world building is very vivid. Really worth reading.
In Epping, England in September 1940, Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie are raising pigeons for The National Pigeon Service to be used in the war. A chance meeting on a train between Susan and Oliver Evans, a potato farmer from Maine, add a romantic element to the book. I really enjoyed the history in this book concerning the use of pigeons during the war. I had heard mention of it but never heard the details so this was very interesting to me. This is a very exciting book and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves World War II historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this very interesting book in exchange for an honest review.
Before reading this incredible book, I had zero idea about England using pigeons to get news in and out of occupied France. Susan lives with her grandfather Bertie on a pigeon farm. They raise pigeons and when the war offices come up with the plan to send carrier pigeons into occupied France, Susan and Bertie train and supply the war effort with pigeons. Ollie lives in Maine and is a pilot. He decides to go to England to join the war. His path leads him to Susan and Bertie. I absolutely loved the characters in this amazing story. I loved learning of a new aspect of the WW2 that I had never heard. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
I’m so glad I won this book in a giveaway! It’s a wonderful and heart wrenching novel set in England & German occupied France during the early days of the war, in the midst of the Blitz. I liked this book so much because while there have been so many WWII historical fiction novels written recently, I’ve yet to read another one focused on the National Pigeon Service & how pigeons were used to help the war effort.
Ollie is a young American man who flies planes as a crop duster on his parents’ farm in 1940, during the days of US neutrality. After facing much adversity he is determined to fly planes for Britain in the war. An urge explained best by the family slogan: “we may have lost our accent our blood is, and always will be, British”. Unfortunately, when he finally makes it to London, an unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) set of circumstances leads him to Susan, Bertie & a very special pigeon, Duchess. Susan is a young British woman who lives with her grandfather, Bertie, on a farm in a town about 20m outside of London. They raise homing pigeons and are members of the National Pigeon Service. After witnessing the horrific & despicable nightly bombings of London by the Luftwaffe, they are ready to help their country in whatever way they can. Even though they know it means they will likely never see their beloved pigeons again.
This is beautiful story about a side of the war that is rarely focused on even though it did play an important part in it, and for that alone, deserves recognition. It’s obvious that Alan Hlad took the time to do diligent research on the war and used real facts and events. I loved the main characters and even though they are fictional, I like to believe they are a mix of the traits that many of the people who survived and fought in WWII must have had. This is a beautiful story that I definitely recommend to everyone!