Synopsis
Born on the same day in 1856 under unusual circumstances, Miles and Isabel independently grow up, he on the stage, she despite her mother's efforts to marry her to a rich boor, and fall in love as Miles prepares to risk his life by testing his new flying machine. 25,000 first printing.
Reviews
Already a best seller in Gilling's native Australia, this follow-up to The Sooterkin is wonderful and magical. It's the story of two headstrong people born under unusual circumstances on the same day in Sydney in 1856. One (Miles) becomes a "vehicle" for a traveling levitator, while the other (Isabel) is accidentally launched into the air owing to the error of a passing drunkard balloonist, whose notebooks Miles inherits after the balloonist's bizarre death. Synchronicities abound. After finally meeting, Miles and Isabel develop a passion for each other-and a dream of flying flares. The balloonist's arcane notebooks, some theater props, an uncle's early bicycle parts-can these things add up to flight, especially flight from Isabel's rich and objecting parents? The answer to that question determines how one interprets the ending. Can such a charming book end in tragedy? Find out for yourself. A great book for all collections.
Robert E. Brown, Minoa Lib., NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Writhing with labor pains, the very pregnant actress Eliza McGinty is on stage portraying Hamlet in lieu of the drunken actor originally slated for the part, while in the audience the demure Mrs. Ernest Dowling is having contractions of her own. Miles and Isabel would share more than the same birth date in 1856; they would be children of the Industrial Revolution, fascinated by the power of turning cogs and flying machines. Isabel is the child of privilege and a victim of her own femininity in a male-dominated society, and Miles is the illegitimate son of an actress traveling as part of a levitation act, but their common love of invention and possibility would put them on a journey of souls destined to meet. Fantastical and magical, this novel is peppered with humor and the excitement of a time period laden with anticipation and opportunities for the creative, restless minds of innovation. Elsa Gaztambide
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