Short of combat, these inspiring women flew every type of military aircraft and performed every job in the air, flying “solo, in all types of weather, all times of day or night, in aircraft in perfect condition and in some that were hardly holding together. . . . [W]e were pilots. . . . Being a female was not a consideration,” Shutsy wrote to me once. “We wanted to learn, improve our skills, fly solo to the ends of the earth, fly better than anyone else.” She asked me to portray the WASPs the way they really were: independent, argumentative, opinionated, “a fiery bunch” who were “extremely loyal.” Unlike those in Miri’s history, the friendships Shutsy made during her time as a WASP have lasted forever.
The Secrets of Flight took five drafts over four and a half years before it was acquired—and then another few drafts after that—but it was the Women Airforce Service Pilots themselves who made this a richer story. I just hope I have done the WASPs justice with this novel, as they deserve far more than that.
Reading Group Questions
1. Did you know about the Women Airforce Service Pilots program before reading this novel? What do you think it must have been like to be one of these women? Would you have applied at that time?
2. Mary and Elyse form an unexpected bond. What does each bring to the other? In what ways are their coming-of-age stories different and in what ways are they similar?
3. Miri and Elyse both get “makeovers” to fit in with those around them. Is this a positive change? What are the possible repercussions when you change your appearance for the approval of others?
4. Do you think Mary was justified in hiding her heritage? Why or why not? Would you ever change who you are to achieve your dreams or help someone else achieve theirs?
5. Jane seems to epitomize the woman who “has it all” until everything falls apart. Is this a possibility for women or is it a myth? How do you think Jane would view it?
6. Why is Miri so drawn to flying? What does it represent for her? Is she rushing toward or away from something? Do you think she succeeded?
7. During one of her last flights, Miri thinks that the only role for her in the sky after the war would be as a flight attendant. What do you think it was like for women who had taken on unexpected roles during wartime? In what ways do you think that shaped where we are today?
8. Elyse dreams of becoming a writer, following in a family tradition that she’s not completely aware of. Are there talents or desires that are intrinsic in some people’s DNA? Have you ever experienced this?
9. How does Elyse help her mother and aunt accept Margot’s death? How does Mary finally come to terms with the death of her son?
Read on
Further Reading
Books on Maggie Leffler’s Night Table
Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brian
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
About a Boy, Nick Hornby
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Possession, A. S. Byatt
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
The Wonder Spot, Melissa Bank
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson
The Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter
Bibliography
Birch, Jane Gardner. They Flew Proud. Nappanee, IN: Evangel Press, 2007.
Dubner, Stephen J. Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
Ehrlich, Elizabeth. Miriam’s Kitchen. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
Gay, Ruth. Unfinished People: Eastern European Jews Encounter America. New York: Norton, 1996.
Kolatch, Alfred J. The Jewish Book of Why. New York: Penguin Compass, 1981.
Lindbergh, Charles A. The Spirit of St. Louis. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953.
Squirrel Hill Historical Society. Images of America: Squirrel Hill. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005.
Trillin, Calvin. Messages from My Father. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996.
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Also by Maggie Leffler
The Goodbye Cousins
The Diagnosis of Love
Credits
Cover design by Elsie Lyons
Cover photographs: © Susan Fox / Trevillion Images (woman); © Andrew Oxley / Alamy Stock Photo (airplane); © Shutterstock (various details)
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE SECRETS OF FLIGHT. Copyright © 2016 by Maggie Leffler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition May 2016 ISBN 9780062427946
ISBN 978-0-06-242792-2
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