On Wings of the Morning

September 24, 2007
This solid WWII-era romance from Bostwick (Fields of Gold
) puts two self-reliant pilots, both of whom nurse childhoods hurts, on the same flight path. Oklahoma-born Morgan Glennon never met his father, a barnstormer who swept his mother off her feet before disappearing back into the sky; after Pearl Harbor, Morgan's dreams of flying take him straight from his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma into enlistment. Georgia Carter, 18, from “the cracker part of Florida, far from the beach” and the daughter of an erratic mother, takes a job at a diner near a Waukegan, Ill., airport, trying to get airtime to quell her flying jones (not easy as a woman). These two lives are very differently affected by WWII, and as the narrative moves back and forth between them, readers will wait for fate to bring them together. Bostwick fills out their destinies satisfyingly and delivers tempting brushes with intimacy at all the right moments before the end-of-war denouement.

September 15, 2007
In "Fields of Gold", Bostwick told the story of Eva Glennon, a young Oklahoma woman. Now her son, Morgan, gets the chance to tell his tale. The other narrator is Georgia Carter. Both characters grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, children of unmarried mothers. Morgan, whose father is a famous aviator hes never met, is lucky to have an extended family that loves him; despite his background, he becomes a confident young man. Unlike her mother who always searched for the right man to solve her problems, Georgia knows she has to be a realist. Both Morgan and Georgia turn to flying as a refuge and a way to find happiness. When World War II breaks out, Morgan enlists as a pilot. Georgia, who married a flight instructor and learned to fly, finds her own wings through joining up with the Womens Air Service Pilots (WASP). When Morgan returns to the States for retraining, he meets Georgia, and they struggle to find love. The book takes some liberties with Charles Lindberghs life, but Bostwick does an excellent job telling the story of the WASP. Since this novel doesnt need to be read as a sequel, it is recommended for most fiction collections. [See the Q&A with Bostwick this page, left.Ed.]Lesa M. Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ

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