3981790
9780743206402
In a novel that will remind many readers of "The English Patient" and "Birdsong," a prize-winning British poet and writer has crafted a remarkable elegy to love, the summer of 1940, and the Battle of Britain. "The Clouds Above" is not only a wonderfully written love story set during the Battle of Britain, but also a brilliant and evocative description of the battle itself. Andrew Greig recreates with a sure touch that extraordinary summer when Great Britain's survival lay in the hands of two thousand or so very young men. The aerial combat scenes are so vivid that to read this book is to be with these men up in the blue sky, where ten seconds is a very long time and everything happens in a rush of adrenaline and terror. Len, a Royal Air Force Sergeant pilot, and Tadeusz, a Polish pilot serving in the RAF, are thrown directly into the fierce struggle with the Luftwaffe. Despite their obvious differences, they become close friends, each aware that neither of them is likely to survive. In this tumultuous and uncertain time Len falls in love with Stella, a young WAAF radar operator. She is trying to endure her own war: makingGreig, Andrew is the author of 'Clouds above: A Novel of Love and War' with ISBN 9780743206402 and ISBN 0743206401.
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