Two Blackbirds

by Garry Ryan

Overview

The fires of the Second World War are beginning to burn down, but legendary Canadian aviatrix Sharon Lacey is not out of danger just yet. Complications enter the young ace's life as deep-seated racial and class prejudice, potential fifth columnists and even her own killer code of honour threaten her hard-fought reputation, while a new and wonderful secret might also prove to be her undoing.

Meanwhile, across the Channel in Fortress Europe, new weapons have started rolling off Nazi production lines, and the characteristic buzz of the deadly V-1 flying bomb fills the air.

In the second act of his Calgary Herald-bestselling Blackbirds trilogy, Garry Ryan pits his intrepid heroine against an array of deadly new foes and challenges, proving that in war the enemy may wear the same uniform as your own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927063514
Publisher:	NeWest Publishers, Limited
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Series:	Blackbirds , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	791 KB

About the Author

Mystery and adventure author GARRY RYAN lives in Calgary, Alberta. He attended the University of Calgary, and taught English and Creative Writing to junior high and high school students until his retirement. Blackbirds, the first book of his WWII adventure trilogy, was published in 2012.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpt from CHAPTER 1
Tuesday, June 13, 1944

"There!" Sharon pointed south and east. The aircraft was grey, flying at a bit over two thousand feet.

"It's fast." Edgar looked over his shoulder toward London.

"Sounds like someone with the green apple quick step shitting into a forty-five-gallon drum," Ernie said.

Edgar frowned.

"It's got an odd silhouette. It looks like the engine is mounted near the tail." Sharon shaded her blue eyes with her right hand.

"It looks awfully small for an airplane," Ernie said.

"It must be some kind of jet propulsion engine," Edgar said.

Ernie nodded. "I've heard of that. Never seen one, though."

They walked around the other side of the hangar to keep their eyes on the aircraft. Sharon stood in between Edgar and Ernie. She was shorter than either of the men, but their posture revealed that they deferred to her.

The aircraft's engine stopped and it nosed down.

"Get down!" Edgar grabbed them both, pushed them to the ground, then covered their bodies with his.

"What in Christ's name are you doing?" Ernie huffed.

The answer was an explosion. The ground heaved. There was a whistling sound. When they got up and brushed themselves off, there was a piece of shrapnel the size of a dinner plate stuck in the hangar wall. It sizzled in the wood about four feet from ground level.

Ernie looked at the ragged chunk of metal, then at Edgar. "How did you know?"

Edgar shrugged. "It was coming from the direction of France, headed toward London, and it wasn't one of ours. A reasonable conclusion."

Reading Group Guide

Excerpt from CHAPTER 1
Tuesday, June 13, 1944

"There!" Sharon pointed south and east. The aircraft was grey, flying at a bit over two thousand feet.

"It's fast." Edgar looked over his shoulder toward London.

"Sounds like someone with the green apple quick step shitting into a forty-five-gallon drum," Ernie said.

Edgar frowned.

"It's got an odd silhouette. It looks like the engine is mounted near the tail." Sharon shaded her blue eyes with her right hand.

"It looks awfully small for an airplane," Ernie said.

"It must be some kind of jet propulsion engine," Edgar said.

Ernie nodded. "I've heard of that. Never seen one, though."

They walked around the other side of the hangar to keep their eyes on the aircraft. Sharon stood in between Edgar and Ernie. She was shorter than either of the men, but their posture revealed that they deferred to her.

The aircraft's engine stopped and it nosed down.

"Get down!" Edgar grabbed them both, pushed them to the ground, then covered their bodies with his.

"What in Christ's name are you doing?" Ernie huffed.

The answer was an explosion. The ground heaved. There was a whistling sound. When they got up and brushed themselves off, there was a piece of shrapnel the size of a dinner plate stuck in the hangar wall. It sizzled in the wood about four feet from ground level.

Ernie looked at the ragged chunk of metal, then at Edgar. "How did you know?"

Edgar shrugged. "It was coming from the direction of France, headed toward London, and it wasn't one of ours. A reasonable conclusion."

Editorial Reviews

04/28/2014
1944: the Second World War still rages on but the end is in sight. Although she is an ace in her own right, Canadian aviatrix Sharon Lacey is relegated to pilot duties away from combat zones. This in no way ensures her safety; enemy planes probe into Allied airspace well behind front lines, other pilots die in flying mishaps, and Nazi Germany's Vergeltungswaffe weapons, the V1 buzzbombs and the V2 rockets, are raining down on Allied cities. Worse, Sharon is about to get a bitter lesson in the cruel divisions of class and race in a world where well connected Fascist sympathizers use their social position to avoid punishment and the color of a man's skin is seen as justification for murder. The slender volume covers almost a year; the effect is the Second World War as seen in fast-forward. As well, Sharon's perspective is oddly modern; while progressives existed in the 1940s, Sharon reacts less like one of those and more like a 21st-century woman transported back to the Second World War. The issues Sharon wrestles with in this second book in his Blackbirds trilogy are important, but the treatment and the novel itself are disappointingly slight, more entertaining than illuminating. (May)

Publishers Weekly