Airborne

   

     "... she could not help but wonder why it was that so many men of her acquaintance failed to see that a monologue does not pass for conversation."

     Ursula Bridgewater's intelligence, strength of character and independent streak have no doubt proved a hindrance in the making of significant relationships with men at a time - the mid-Victorian era - when such attributes would have been thought unnecessary and downright threatening. As a result, Ursula must look to something other than marriage for the fulfilment she seeks. She begins to travel, leaving the comfortable Liverpool home she shares with her brother to join excursions organised by Mr. Thomas Cook.

    While Ursula takes increasingly ambitious trips with Cook's Tours, Sally Walker is growing up in the Orphanage of Holy Innocents. Left motherless by an accident Sally herself witnessed, she will eventually become Ursula's travelling companion, but she does not share her employer's taste for adventure, and when the two visit Niagara Falls and encounter Toby O'Hara and his hot-air balloon, such an unnatural means of conveyance (together with the associations it brings) is too much for Sally.

    Jennie Rooney's unusual love story The Opposite of Falling shows all the warmth and accomplishment of her first book, Inside the Whale (which I greatly enjoyed). She has a charming turn of phrase and her pitch is just right; not only that, her research is deftly set into the story so that important facts and observations are all of a piece with the narrative. In what is a deceptively slender volume, there is a great deal of interest, and clearly much thought has gone into the book's themes. In addition to the position of women in society and the early history of attempts at flight, there are astute references to the subject of faith - in its widest sense, and its narrowest, too. Above all, it is about facing fears, coming into one's own and realising that happiness may be exactly what you have, if you can just see it for what it is. All told, a lovely and uplifting book.

Comments

[Simon (Savidge Reads)]

I think the cover is lovely I will say for a start! The fact it is set in the mid-Victorian era is anothre selling factor for me. Sounds like it could be up my street.

I never read Inside The Whale and I am not sure why!

[yvonne]

It sounds like my kind of read and I agree with Simon, that the cover is particularly appealing. Definitely one to look out for on my travels

[Margaret Powling]

This is one that I started and I was really enjoying it and then, suddenly, I totally lost interest. Yes, a great cover, and I can't really fathom why I have given up on this, but it simply wasn't holding my attention.

[Sarah Cuthbertson]

I've just read this for the Historical Novels Review. So much so beautifully folded into a short novel. Inside The Whale left me cold but I didn't want this novel to end. it's good to watch a novelist "grow" like this.

[carol]

just found ur blog thru another blog and looking forward to following.

This great review has me putting this on my wishlist. I do agree that the cover is very inviting.

carol