Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062834782
Hardcover, $27.99, 400 pages

Many readers know Beatriz Williams' Schuyler Sisters series of novels, featuring generations of her fascinating fictitious family. Her last novel, The Golden Hour, took place in Bermuda during WWII, with the infamous Duke and Dutchess of Windsor as major characters.

Her newest novel, Her Last Flight, combines the real with the fictitious with the story of a pioneering female aviatrix inspired by the story of Amelia Earheart. Told in two different timelines, in 1948 we meet Janey Everett, a WWII war correspondent and photo journalist, who is writing a book about Sam Mallory, a famous pilot who was once stranded on a deserted Pacific Island with Irene Foster, the iconic female aviatrix, after their attempt to fly from the United States to Australia ended abruptly.

Foster and Mallory became a cause celebre, as the world breathlessly followed the attempts to find the downed airplane. When they are eventually rescued weeks later, people all over the world want to hear about their escape and what really happened while they were stranded together on the island. Foster becomes a celebrity, and Mallory returns home to his wife and young child.

In 1937, Irene Foster disappears during an around-the-world race, her plane thought to have gone down in the Sahara Desert.

Janey Everett ends up in Hawaii, convinced that the woman named Irene Lindquist is in fact Irene Foster, who did not die in 1937. Everett supposedly wants information about Sam Mallory for her book, and she won't give up until Irene confesses her true identity.

Her Last Flight zooms back and forth between Irene and Sam's story on the island, Janey's attempt to get information about Sam Mallory from Irene, and parts of the book that Janey actually ends up writing. Each storyline is equally intriguing on its own, and Williams' skillfully weaves them together as the novel reaches its surprising conclusion.

I was so invested in each character- Janey's hard exterior and quippy dialogue, Irene's ambition to be a pilot and her love for her family, Sam's ambivalence between what he wants and his responsibility- I felt for each one.

Williams puts in a few twists that had me literally gasping as I read them, I love when a book surprises me like that. I always enjoyed history class in high school, and when an author writes a historical novel that captures me as much as Her Last Flight did, I can only say "Bravo". This one is Beatriz Williams' best book yet. I highly recommend it, especially for fans of historical fiction and strong female characters.