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    Her Last Flight: A Novel
    Her Last Flight: A Novel
    Her Last Flight: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Her Last Flight: A Novel

    Written by Beatriz Williams

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The beloved author returns with a remarkable novel of both raw suspense and lyric beauty— the story of a lost pilot and a wartime photographer that will leave its mark on your soul. 

    In 1947, photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote surfing village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a planned biography of forgotten aviation pioneer Sam Mallory, who joined the loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War and never returned. Obsessed with Sam’s fate, Janey has tracked down Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline, whom she believes might actually be the legendary Irene Foster, Mallory’s onetime student and flying partner. Foster’s disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937 remains one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries. 

    At first, the flinty Mrs. Lindquist denies any connection to Foster. But Janey informs her that the wreck of Sam Mallory’s airplane has recently been discovered in a Spanish desert, and piece by piece, the details of Foster’s extraordinary life emerge: from the beginnings of her flying career in Southern California, to her complicated, passionate relationship with Mallory, to the collapse of her marriage to her aggressive career manager, the publishing scion George Morrow.

    As Irene spins her tale to its searing conclusion, Janey’s past gathers its own power. The duel between the two women takes a heartstopping turn. To whom does Mallory rightfully belong? Can we ever come to terms with the loss of those we love, and the lives we might have lived?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 30, 2020
    ISBN9780063003354
    Her Last Flight: A Novel
    Author

    Beatriz Williams

    Beatriz Williams is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including The Beach at Summerly, Our Woman in Moscow, and The Summer Wives, as well as four other novels cowritten with Lauren Willig and Karen White. A native of Seattle, she graduated from Stanford University and earned an MBA in finance from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry.

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    Reviews for Her Last Flight

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    160 ratings24 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I have consumed several Beatriz Williams novels recently, and have become a fan of her ability to draw me into not only a story but a time in the past as if I am there. This book is no exception. I am an avid Amelia Earhart fan and at first I wasn’t sure how I’d like reading a character that was so decidedly modeled on Amelia and yet was not her…but Irene gained autonomy over the course of the story, and I loved her too. If you’ve read up on Amelia then aspects of the story are predictable, but then again I was genuinely surprised by twists I didn’t see coming at all at least three times, possibly more. All in all, I couldn’t stop listening. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      Not my favorite book. Janey Everett was a most unlikeable character. She was over-sexed, drank way too much and was very rude to the people around her. This was the first book I read by Beatriz Williams and it will, most likely, be my last. Were women really like that back then? My mother and all her friends were definitely not, thank goodness! This book was chosen for our next book club discussion. I’m curious to hear what other people in my book club think about Her Last Flight.
    • 4/5
      This Audiobook would be much better if it didn’t skip pages at a time. I had it skip 5 times and would rang from a page skipped to 5 + pages. Grateful I follow along of I would have miss important parts of this book.
    • 4/5
      What do you do when you meet someone who doesn't want to be found?

      From the moment Janey, a photojournalist, finds Sam Mallory's plane partially covered in the Spanish desert, she knows she's found what she's looking for. Well, at least a part of it. Now she's traveled to Hawaii to find the missing aviatrix, Irene Foster. In an effort to learn everything she can about Sam Mallory, she just needs Irene Lindquist to admit her real identity and tell her all about her mentor, Sam.

      Beatriz Williams flawlessly weaves two timelines, 1940's Janey with 20's-30's Irene as she tells the story of both women's lives. Their stories are raw, if not crude at times, and real as they work their way through a male-dominated world. Despite their differences, they are very much alike.

      This is a perfect read for fans of historical fiction, combining romance, friendship, and history into one amazing journey. From the first page, I couldn't put it down.

      Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.
    • 4/5
      A well-told tale of flying in its early days, it mixes and mingles nicely with some of the real participants of that era; particularly Amelia Ehrhart and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The plot is intricate and revealed nicely by the author's alternating chapters between then and prior times.
    • 5/5
      I had NO idea what was coming in this wonderful novel of a possible answer to whatever happened to Amelia Earhart. The writing was complicatedly confusing and very, very clever---goving back and forth between the two women involved. Definitely worth reading.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was a long but very engaging read. Reminded me loosely of the Amelia Earhart story but I really enjoyed the detail and a really well written book. I really enjoyed as I made the connections through the clues in the book.
    • 4/5
      In our world now, with contrails crisscrossing the sky and flights departing constantly for near and far, it can be hard to remember the danger and novelty and glamor of early flight, the way that pilots like Lindbergh and Earhart were bigger than movie stars. They were impossibly brave and reckless and completely fascinating people, daredevils, these pioneers of aviation. Beatriz Williams takes readers back to this time, when pilots kept trying to fly farther, faster, or longer than they had before, topping each others' and their own feats as splashed across newspaper headlines around the world in her novel Her Last Flight.In 1947, Janey Everett, a photojournalist is writing a book about the famous pilot Sam Mallory, missing in the Spanish Civil War. Opening with her quiet discovery of the wreckage of his plane in the Spanish desert and a chance line in his journal found in the plane, Janey is off to find the one person who can tell her the truth of what happened in that wreck, a person also long missing. Irene Lindquist and her husband Olle run an island hopping airline in Hawa'ii. Janey suspects that this Irene is Irene Foster, once Sam Mallory's student and flying partner and a famous aviatrix in her own right but Mrs. Lindquist is taciturn and evasive and a lot less than welcoming, even initially denying this identity. Janey continues to dig though and the women come to a sort of tentative truce as Irene slowly tells her own incredible story and how it weaves into Sam Mallory's.Told in chapters alternating between the 1947 present and the book that Janey is writing, this is that rare novel where both threads of the narrative are gripping. The tension between Janey and Irene is palpable and the reader wonders what all is being held back by these two fiercely private women while the chapters out of Janey's book in progress work toward uncovering the mystery of Sam's fate that Janey is so determined to bring to light. This is a story of complicated relationships, of fame, loss, and love. Both Janey and Irene are strong women who have succeeded in men's occupations. Each guards herself carefully, allowing very few people to see behind their protective exteriors. The secondary characters are well drawn and engaging, rounding out the lives of these women, illustrating parts of our main characters that the reader would not otherwise see. The novel is smooth and while filled with drama, it is not a showy kind of drama, more a quiet, personal cost sort. There are, of course, echoes of Earhart's life and final flight but Irene (and Sam) are entirely Williams' own and the story is well conceived. Readers fascinated by the human beings behind early aviation will delight in this well researched and well written novel.
    • 5/5
      I found this book to be quite fascinating. I have always been interested in flying and it’s history. This book made me think about Amelia Earhart and oddly enough she is mentioned in the author’s note. I hope that this is truly what happened to Amelia to an extent. Her story always interested me and this book did too. It was engaging and went back and forth between the past and the present. I would recommend others to read this book.
    • 4/5
      Love and aviation are the twin themes of this dual-time novel. I enjoyed this one (to be fair, I enjoy most of Beatriz Williams' novels) and I appreciated the star-crossed romance between a female pilot and her married copilot, which blossoms when the two of them crash land on a deserted island. Of course, tragedy and heartbreak are just over the horizon, as one might expect of a story which kept me turning the pages. Overall, this novel made for good reading and my inner feminist enjoyed that the main female character was a famous pilot.
    • 4/5
      Even if you have no interest in the history of aviation, you’re going to be caught up in it and enjoy it. Loosely based on the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart, Williams has continued to do detailed research before writing her historical novels. While it is based on Earhart’s life it is not about her. Here history is recreated in the story of Irene and Sam and a bevy of women daredevil pilots. Suspense, romance, intrigue, and great characters make up this story.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      Irene Foster is a female pilot back in the 1930s and 40s. She learned under one of the bests, Sam Mallory. Sam Mallory disappeared in the Spanish Civil War. Janey Everett, a photo journalist, is obsessed with finding out exactly what happened.Irene Foster or Lindquist as she is known in Hawai’i, is an amazing woman. She is a pioneer in the field of aviation. Sam Mallory is a complete risk taker where flying is concerned. These two set the world on fire with their antics on and off the airfield.Janey Everett is determined to find out about these two. She is a piece of work. She is no nonsense and does not hold back in her quest for the truth.Wow! What a fabulous tale! I enjoyed the characters and the history! This story had some major twists at the end. I figured one out and one was a complete surprise. Now, this book is wordy as all Beatriz William’s books are. BUT! This is a fabulous read….DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
    • 3/5
      This book tells the story of two women: a pilot named Irene and a photojournalist named Janey. Janey's story was the weaker of the two. She came from a messed up family, and that had a huge effect on her, leaving lots of room for character growth. Unfortunately there was very little growth, and it was pretty much right at the end of the book. Irene's story was more interesting to me, but there are things I wish had been developed more and things I wish hadn't been left out. For example, Irene decides she wants to learn to fly. We don't see her learning, though. We just skip ahead to her getting ready to navigate a historic flight. I wish I could have seen her growing love for flying and then her disillusionment with it. Instead we jump eight years into the future and are told she's tired of the life. I didn't feel invested in her struggles.Above all, this book seemed to be about relationships, but I would have like them to be further developed too. For the main relationship in Irene's life, we see the day she meets the man and then skip to the point where they're in love. The other relationship isn't developed either, so I didn't find myself invested in this aspect of the story either. I almost wish the book had only focused on Irene so those points could have been developed more.Thank you NetGalley and The Book Club Girls for this early read.
    • 4/5
      What a fascinating read! This new novel by Beatriz Williams covers the early days of aviation and is loosely based on the life of Amelia Earhart. What if Amelia Earhart had survived? Where would she be living? Why had she retreated from the public eye?Irene Foster is the “Amelia” of the story. She meets Sam Mallory at a young age and falls in love with flying and with Mallory. Sam Mallory, a famous aviation pioneer, teaches Irene to fly and for a time, they fly as a team. During a flight from Hawaii to Australia, the duo encountered engine trouble and had to make an unexpected landing at a remote island where they were stranded for several weeks before being rescued.Naturally the whole world was speculating about their relationship considering they were alone together for so long on a deserted island. Their publicist, George Morrow, tried to control the publicity for a time, but when things seemed to get out of his control, he managed to separate Mallory from Irene and became her publicist, manager and eventually her husband.After a few years, Mallory and Irene reconnected and the meat of the story is the events that occurred after their reunion. The ending is one readers will not be able to tear away from. Even though I thought it was a bit of a slow start, I really enjoyed this story—especially the little twists at the ending.
    • 4/5
      This book is better than the time it took me to read it indicates. Blame COVID-19. But when I did get into it, I enjoyed it. The bouncing around in time was done well, and the past is framed by the writer in the present's book about Irene. When one vital piece of information came to light I had a "doh!" moment. I think it's because I read it in fragments instead of long periods. Again, I just couldn't concentrate. Not the book's fault. It is a gem.When I started it I turned to the Author's note so that I could understand just how closely the story followed to the events in Amelia Earhart's life. Not too, but enough to make me look. A great tribute to her and all women who go after life like she did.
    • 4/5
      Beatrix Williams won't disappoint her fans with this latest book when it hits the shelves in June of 2020. She has all her trademark elements - strong women, mystery, plot twists, historical time frames, and in her own words "sexual power"."Sexual power is something I deal with in every single book because it's so fascinating and essential to the process of becoming an adult and the power negotiation between men and women."Her Last Flight captures the spitfire spirit of the early aviatrixes like Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols and Louise Thadon. Although there are strong inferences to Amelia Earhart, this is not a fictional accounting of her life. References to lead character, Irene Foster's interest in surfing is likely modeled after surfers like Isabel Lethan.Bardenas Reales, Spain. January 1947.War correspondent, Janey Everett stands alone in the desolate whipping desert sands next to the remains of a Spanish military aircraft. A clue has led her here. She has been on the search for the whereabouts of a daredevil stunt pilot, Sam Mallory, who disappeared in 1937. Inside the cockpit, she finds human remains and Sam Mallory's personal journal. The discovery of Sam's journal is invaluable for the completion of her current literary project; a Sam Mallory biography.Reading the dusty journal, Everett is startled to find a clue about Sam Mallory's most famous aviation student, Irene Foster, who also disappeared in flight. Foster and Mallory, in 1928, were the most famous aviators with a history of flying together on long distance rallies. By 1937, Irene Foster was flying solo. On a flight circumnavigating the globe, she failed to arrive at a planned stop to meet up with her husband, George Morrow. Extensive searches concluded she was lost at sea. Yet, Sam's last journal entry from 1937 was a scrawled message - GM to rescue at last thank God She will live. Could Irene Foster have left her husband and traveled to Spain to be with Sam? Was she with Sam when his plane crashed? Is she alive?Janey Everett, hungry for first-hand knowledge about Sam Mallory, employs all her investigative skills to unearth clues to Irene's whereabouts. Skills that include employing her supersized libido to seduce information from Sam and Irene's closest past associates. Irene, indeed, survived and has living the past ten years as a recluse in a small Hawaiian ocean-side town.Hanalei, Hawai'i October 1947The day comes that the two women meet face to face. The lionesses circle each other cautiously. Each has carefully guarded secrets. They meet, alone, at the ocean where Irene has been surfing. They parry. Janey plays her trump card - Sam's journal. Stone-faced, Irene tells her, "Come with me."We know that Janey is successful in discovering Irene's secrets but we are dealt them out like bits of a Hershey bar - bite by bite. Irene's story, told from her perspective, appears in excerpts from Janey's book, the Aviatrix. that begins with a timeline of 1928. Alternate chapters are written present that begins in 1947 as the two women leave the beach together.The two alternating story lines have just the right tension and plot twists to keep the reader guessing the ending. The astute reader might spot clues but not everything is as it first seems. What I liked in particular was the historical coverage of the early aviation. The bravery of those early aviators barnstorming in planes that were as safe as running a soapbox car in a NASCAR race. And who cannot love Sandy, Sam's cat, who travels through the book showering love and contentment to soften the often highly charged scenes.Nice read during these turbulent times.Thank you, LibraryThing.com Early Readers for selecting me to read an ARC of the book.
    • 5/5
      Beatriz Williams has become a not just a must read author for me but a must buy. Her stories are consistently ones I’m going to recommend, gift, and want to read again. These are my top books, my five stars. Her Last Flight is the right book at the right time. Smart immersive fiction with strong female characters who are flawed, human, multidimensional. The book is inspired by early female aviators. Janey Everett tracks down Irene Foster while writing a biography on Sam Malone, a famous aviator who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. Irene’s story, is told though flashbacks and alternates with Janey in ‘present day’ 1947. The stories of both women are incredibly interesting, well researched, and really use their locations extremely well as characters in their own right. I highly recommend for lovers of historical fiction, contemporary fiction, mysteries, immersive fiction. Thank you to LibraryThing and William Morrow for the Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams. All opinions are my own. A special note that the ARC is simply beautiful with an iridescent sheen making the goldtones in the background imperceptibly glow like a sunset. Well done on the cover art! I hope this carries over to the hardcover.
    • 4/5
      Irene Foster meets aviator Sam Mallory while surfing and so begins a mentorship, partnership and great love affair. Beatriz Williams excels at shining the spotlight on fiesty uncompromising women who play by their own rules and are not without heart. Janey is a no nonsense photojournalist bent on finding the elusive aviatrix Irene Foster and getting out of her the real story of what happened between her and Sam Mallory. After she finds her in remote Hawaii armed with some information she mistakenly thinks that she can get answers but will get more than she bargained for. Told in alternating chapters between Janey's future book chapters about Irene and Sam and those of her own search for truth. The character is a montage of various female pilots but it is an homage to every gutsy , adventure junkie aviatrix who fell in love with the sky and was told by a man that she couldn't fly. Fans of well rounded historical fiction featuring gutsy women will fly a loop de loop for this book. One of her best! My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
    • 5/5
      Her Last Flight is a well researched, well written novel about the early days of female pilots. There are echoes of Amelia Earhart whose story has always intrigued me but this is a novel about fictional female pilots. The book is told in two timelines - 1928 is told by Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline in Hawaii and the timeline from 1947 is told by photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett. Janey is writing a book about Sam Mallory, a famous pilot who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. From her research, Janey believes that Irene Lindquist is really legendary Irene Foster, Mallory’s onetime student and flying partner. Foster’s disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937 remains one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries. At first Irene is unwilling to talk to Janey but once Janey tells her that she's found Sam' airplane in the desert, Irene begins to tell the story of her past.This novel goes seamlessly back and forth between time periods and both stories are extremely interesting. Both Irene and Janey are strong and determined woman who have worked very hard to fulfill their dreams. I loved both characters and thought that they were both well written. The author describes both their strengths and flaws and that makes them even more real. Because of the way the story is told we learn not only about both women in their present day but also their childhoods, their families and what they had to endure to become strong women in their time periods. There are also a few surprises that are part of both stories that make the novel even more interesting.Most of the novels that I've read by Beatriz have been in compilation with other authors and after reading this excellent book, I'll be watching for more books written by her.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      Received this through the kindness of LibraryThing Early Reviewer program and the publisher. Learned a lot about aviation in the early days, and some new slants on complicated relationships. The author tucked a few surprises in the pages as well. Will look for more by this author.
    • 4/5
      I loved that this story jumped from the "present" in the 1940's where Janey and Irene are learning about each other and the 1920-30's as excerpts from Janey's biography, Aviatrix, which details Irene's early life and career. The banter between Irene and Janey was enjoyable to read. What really cemented this book as one I will continue to recommend to others is the twist at the end. I can honestly say that I did not see it coming at all, which is rare. I received this ARC through Early Reviewers. The summary intrigued me and I was definitely not disappointed. There were some pretty major spelling/grammatical errors but as this was an ARC I was able to look past them.
    • 5/5
      In 1947, war correspondent and photographer Janey Everett arrives in Kauai, Hawaii. While writing a biography on the famous pilot Sam Mallory, she uncovered the whereabout of his former partner, Irene Foster. Irene had disappeared during a flight and was presumed dead years ago. When Janey discovered her she was going by the name Irene Lindquist and at first refused to admit her true identity. Finally Janey is able to convince Irene to tell the truth and give her the true story of what really happened to Sam Mallory all those years ago. This book is not taken from any actual people in history but rather is a fictional character during the late 1920's through 1930's when women were not commonly seen as pilots, and across-the-country and around-the-world flights were sensational news. The book was fascinating and kept me engaged throughout. It was told in alternating chapters between Janey in the 1940's and Irene in the 1920's. I thought it tied the two seamlessly and I loved the surprise towards the end. If you love historical fiction, then you definitely want to read this one.
    • 5/5
      I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Beatriz William’s book I read (Wicked City), but there was something about her writing style that drew me in. So I thought I would take a chance on “Her Last Flight.” I wasn’t disappointed. The alternating viewpoints and time give the reader a view of Irene Foster’s flying career and the journalist’s desire for a story.
      One of the twists in the book was pretty obvious to me but I wasn’t expecting how it would all come together in the end.