Staggerwing

"What a great book! It reads with the intrigue of a Louis L'Amour novel and the introduction into the aviation world of Ernest Gann. I read it cover to cover in two sittings. Great insights into the emotions and adrenaline of the air race." -John Bagley, Reno Air Race pylon pilotThere are women who obey gravity. And then there is Maggie Rockwell.She is brash. Brilliant. A spectacle on horseback and a menace in the sky. She flies stunt planes and races from movie sets to university lectures, dodging doubters and dismissals with the same sharp precision. Maggie does not plan to lose. It is 1936. The Bendix Trophy Race will cross the country, from New York to Los Angeles, and Maggie intends to win it outright. Her rivals are time, weather, and the full weight of society's expectations.

Two problems. They don't want the women to compete. And Maggie doesn't have a plane.

Fernando carries the posture of a prince but speaks like someone who has lived without favor. What he wants, and what he's running from, is something not even Maggie-who trusts very little but speed-can read. Effortless on the polo field. Fluent in horses. Handsome enough to warrant suspicion.

What unfolds is not just romance. An orbit. An escalation. A pursuit. But who exactly is doing the pursuing?

They find themselves drawn into overlapping webs of glamour, competition, and intrigue until Maggie is forced to confront a deeper truth. The real race may not be against the clock, but against the stories others would write for her.

Staggerwing is a novel of rare balance: technically exacting, emotionally resonant, and quietly subversive. It reimagines the golden age of aviation not as backdrop, but as crucible. An age where speed exposes character, and love, like flight, depends on lift, thrust, and timing.