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Published Jul 2018
448 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
Two young daredevil flyers confront ugly truths and family secrets during the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, from the author of The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch.
Louis Thorn and Haruto "Harry" Yamada -- Eagle and Crane -- are the star attractions of Earl Shaw's Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family's belief that the Yamadas -- Japanese immigrants -- stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family.
When Louis and Harry become aerial stuntmen, performing death-defying tricks high above audiences, they're both drawn to Shaw's smart and appealing stepdaughter, Ava Brooks. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and one of Shaw's planes mysteriously crashes and two charred bodies are discovered in it, authorities conclude that the victims were Harry and his father, Kenichi, who had escaped from a Japanese internment camp they had been sent to by the federal government. To the local sheriff, the situation is open and shut. But to the lone FBI agent assigned to the case, the details don't add up.
Thus begins an investigation into what really happened to cause the plane crash, who was in the plane when it fell from the sky, and why no one involved seems willing to tell the truth. By turns an absorbing mystery and a fascinating exploration of race, family and loyalty, Eagle and Crane is that rare novel that tells a gripping story as it explores a terrible era of American history. <
"Rindell joins the ranks of popular historical fiction authors Kristin Hannah and Kate Quinn with this fast-paced, gripping novel that compellingly explores a tumultuous era of 20th-century history." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Masterfully told, completely immersive, with indepth characters who illustrate the social complexities of the time, this is an unforgettable historical novel, similar in impact to Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford." - Booklist (starred review)
"Rindell's sweeping generational saga will please fans of immersive, meticulously researched historicals." - Publishers Weekly
"Suzanne Rindell takes to the heavens in this glorious story of two daring aviators during the Great Depression. She's written an epic love story set against a time of upheaval, suspicion and change. A magnificent novel from a great writer." - Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Kiss Carlo
"Wildly ambitious and filled with heartbreak (I love heartbreak), Suzanne Rindell's third novel mesmerizingly pilots us through the Depression, the 1930s, Pearl Harbor, and the love one fierce young woman has for two very different aviators. Passionate, profound and an absolutely daredevil act of imagination." - Caroline Leavitt, New York Times-bestselling author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World
"In this blazing saga about a flying circus, Rindell performs death-defying plot twists that race toward the shocking conclusion. Eagle & Crane is a majestic historical novel that is profoundly relevant in today's world." - Fiona Davis, author of The Address and The Dollhouse
"A white-knuckled historical mystery and collision course of cultures, Eagle & Crane threads a fascinating tale through the half-silenced world of Japanese internment in America. Timely, expertly researched, and provocative." - Dominic Smith, New York Times-bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
"Elegantly interweaving a lyrical love triangle with the spectacle of Depression-era barnstorming, the plight of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, and a bitter family feud spanning generations, Eagle & Crane poignantly plumbs still deeper waters: how far loyalty and friendship can be tested, and what it means to be an American." - Lyndsay Faye, Edgar-nominated author of Jane Steele and the Timothy Wilde trilogy
This information about Eagle & Crane was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Emily Kate Roemer
Suzanne Rindell is a doctoral student in American modernist literature at Rice University. Her first novel, The Other Typist, debuted on May 7, 2013. It has been translated into 15 languages and optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Her second novel, Three-Martini Lunch, was released in, 2016. She lives in New York City.
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