On August 1, 1933, two young women, the famous aviatrix Grace O'Gorman and the inexperienced Willa Briggs, take off in a tiny Moth biplane to break the world flight endurance record. Their plan: to circle above the city of Toronto for twenty-five days.
So begins Leaving Earth, a haunting evocation of an era when heroic women defied the limitations of their sex by embarking on perilous ventures. Sponsored by the Adventure Girl Almanac, "Air Ace Grace" and Willa soar above the city while below the Depression takes its toll and the shadows of the coming war lengthen. But as the days pass, the women's ties to humanity fall away, and the growing intensity of their connection becomes as gripping as the perils that besiege them. For the two pilots, there is no speech over the wind's rush, only an elaborate sign language in which they must invent the world anew. All the while, the endurance test wears on, its outcome jeopardized by fatigue, weather, mechanical breakdown, and the lethal efforts of a saboteur.
In this accomplished debut, Helen Humphreys displays the sensuous, shimmering language of a poet as she evokes the early days of flying and all that is fine--and base--in human nature.
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Grace O'Gorman, the star-bright aviatrix of Helen Humphreys's debut novel, Leaving Earth, adores her Moth--a two-seat, open-cockpit biplane. It's the 1930s, and together they have wowed the world with stunts, solo long-distance flights, and other record-breaking trips. Glamorous "Air Ace" Grace feels most at home aloft, as opposed to down on Earth, in Toronto, with her husband. That, along with her competitiveness and affinity for fame, is why she's setting out to break the world flight endurance record. She teams up with a young female flyer, Willa Briggs, to circle Toronto for 25 days in August 1933.
In a spare yet warm style, Humphreys unfurls the pair's airborne life. She conjures the physical miseries it inflicts on the body--brought on by rain, cramped space, exhaustion--and makes the subtleties of that exhaustion clear as a cloudless sky. But beyond descriptions of physical discomfort is the emotional distress and elation Willa goes through, to which the author gives exquisite nuance. There's loneliness that forces introspection, yet joy washes over Willa, too--joy for a stripped-down life in the sky with Grace, with whom she is falling in love. Over the roar of the wind Grace and Willa develop a poetic sign language. Around this and around the experience of the sky, Humphreys winds Willa's highs and lows.
Following the Moth's flight is 11-year-old Maddy, whose father and Jewish mother work at a fading amusement park on the Toronto Islands. Maddy worships Grace and so naturally spends her August days tracking the circling biplane. Meanwhile her parents worry about work in the face of the depression and watch a growing anti-Semitism invade their home. From the earth and the sky Humphreys shapes a keen story about human frailty and potential, set when aviation was all about glamour, and World War II not so far away. Here, fear spreads and intimacy blooms. --Katherine Alberg
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. Metropolitan (New York), 1997. First edition. First printing. Hardbound. As New in an as-new dust jacket. A perfect unread copy. Novel. F4100. Seller Inventory # 1528
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY - customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery. Tanning to text. Remainder mark along bottom edge of text block. Sticker mark on front of d/j. Some bruising to top of spine. ; 7.6 X 5.3 X 0.9 inches. Seller Inventory # 185565
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition; First Printing. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY - customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery. Rubbing to top of d/j and tips. ; 7.60 X 5.30 X 0.90 inches. Seller Inventory # 76187
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: As New. 1997 Hardcover Edition. DJ has light shelf wear. Signed by author on title page. DJ is price clipped inside front flap. Seller Inventory # BB4-9-24-21-00
Book Description Condition: Acceptable. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. Seller Inventory # FORT759570
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine+. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Tan hardcovers with tan cloth spine covering. A Fine book with a bright, unmarked text, inscription to the previous owner on the front free end paper, and a tight binding. Very light spine end bumping. The DJ is Near Fine with light cover scuffing. "Set in 1930s Canada, this novel tells the story of Willa and Grace, two female pilots attempting to break the world record for non-stop flight. As they take to the air, the focus shifts to Maddy, a young girl who idolizes the two women whilst fearing for her safety as the Canadian Nazis move in." ; 7.60 X 5.30 X 0.90 inches; 232 pages. Seller Inventory # 18641
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 232 pp. Light rubbing and edgewear. Interior unmarked. Binding tight. Seller Inventory # 027006
Book Description Hard Cover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good Plus. First Edition. First printing. Signed by author on title page. Lightly bumped on ends of spine, faint smudge on bottom edge, else near fine. DJ lightly wrinkled on ends of spine, heel of spine chipped, else very good plus. Protected in mylar. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 005446
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: NF. Dust Jacket Condition: NF. Novel of a Canadian aviatrix during the Depression. Seller Inventory # 1095513
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Good. book. Seller Inventory # D7S9-1-M-0002245469-3