THE LONG FLIGHT HOME by Alan Hlad

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

A debut novel that shines the light on a somewhat obscure WW2 British intelligence operation that used tens of thousands of homing pigeons to enable French resistors to relay information on German resources and readiness. Susan trains homing pigeons, and is called to service with the British National Pigeon Service during the early months of the Blitz of London. Susan crosses paths with Ollie, an itinerant crop-duster from Maine who has designs on flying for the RAF. Ollie and Susan forge a bond when each learns the other has lost their parents, and as Ollie helps Susan do her bit to prepare the birds for the war effort, romantic feelings ignite. But Susan and Ollie must overcome their RAF flyer foil Clyde, who had been snubbed by Susan and turns his ire on Ollie. Susan is especially well-drawn, we gain an appreciation of her technical knowledge of pigeon training as well as her deep love for the birds, and her keen sense of duty to England that enables her to put her precious pigeons in great peril. The story is chock-full of well-written action scenes, with period detail aplenty, from bombings during the Blitz, to the terror of French-occupying Nazis, to the Allied pilot escape route through Spain. Mr. Hlad is a fine storyteller, and I’ll watch for his new titles. If I were to quibble, I would love to see him tighten down his narrative summarizations with real-time words and actions, and let the story unveil itself.