Thursday, December 30, 2021

"A Letter From Pearl Harbor", by Anna Stuart




This fiction is based on historical events.

Ninety-eight-year old Ginny McAllister’s is at the twilight of her life and has one last wish for her granddaughters Robyn and Ashleigh before the lights go off: go to Hawaii and complete a treasure hunt containing clues to her past...... Her story promises to be epic.

Told in two timelines through the viewpoints of older and younger Ginny and her granddaughter Robyn “A Letter From Pearl Harbor” is a captivating story of courage, resilience, love in unexpected places, about family and the horrors and after-effects of war.

The historical part of the story brings us to Oahu in the fall of 1941 where Ginny is a pilot and flight instructor. In her words she recalls her experiences before, during and after the surprise military strike by Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the U.S naval base. As the sisters unravel clues after clues we follow Ginny and her friends facing all the obstacles they encountered as brave women pilots in the early 1940’s. At the time when the mindset of American was not in favour of female pilots ferrying missions. To add poignancy to the plot real historical figures intermingle with the fictional ones and we learn the struggles these women had to face to be recognised: Jacqueline Cochran, Nancy Love make a cameo appearance in this segment although flipping the pages we come across important figures of the times as well as civilians and military heroes.

As the story flips flops back and forth in time we discover that the characters are a total contrast to each other. By the end, the girls learn to live and love and make their dreams come true. The characters are well-crafted and easy to love.

The storyline flows smoothly; the tempo is slow intercepted by well place action and fascinating facts and details to keep us engaged till the very end. I find the way it is penned to have originality.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

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