The only things I found irritating were the too-frequent mentions of arthritic knees and the children's influenza rhyme. The story is somewhat sentimental but in a good way the emotion isn't particularly deep but it's honestly earned without manipulation. Those who are not will learn some history because Hlad has done his research. I was already familiar with the role of pigeons in both world wars. Her behavior is carefully described so as to be believable-you don't have to suspend disbelief in the way often needed by animal heroes. Duchess the pigeon not only saves hearts and minds with her homing skills she also saves the novel. Interestingly, all the English military are pretty rotten people as well or in some cases just stupid. Yes, it's another war romance with people being brave and all the Nazis being thoroughly evil. Yet Duchess's devotion and her singular sense of duty will become an unexpected lifeline.Īlan Hlad gives a fresh slant to some predictable elements: spunky young English woman, jealous English man, fresh-faced American, frail but brave old man, even a kind French woman. When Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. Those that do make the journey home to England can convey crucial information on German troop movements - and help reclaim the skies from the Luftwaffe. Codenamed Source Columba, the mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France.
His quest brings him to Epping and to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment. Thousands of miles away in Buxton, Maine, a young crop-duster pilot named Ollie Evans has decided to travel to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan - loyal, intelligent, beautiful - but none more so than Duchess, who shares a special bond with Susan and an unusual curiosity about the human world. After losing her parents to influenza as a child, Susan found comfort in raising homing pigeons with Bertie. Enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie. It is September 1940 - a year into the war - and as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion.
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