Flight of Dreams (Lawhon) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The novel beautifully exploits the unique, excruciating kind of suspense in which the poor horrified reader knows from the start exactly what’s going to happen. Well, maybe not exactly….Under Lawhon’s revolving spotlight, we are introduced to a carousel of suspicious characters…so as the zeppelin cruises serenely through the clouds the earthbound reader ricochets from distrust to uncertainty to outright foreboding. At every page a guilty secret bobs up; at every page Lawhon keeps us guessing. Who will bring down the Hindenburg? And how?
New York Times Book Review


An enthralling nail-biter…Almost 80 years after the Hindenburg’s fiery end in a New Jersey airfield, Lawhon reimagines the downing of the Nazi zeppelin...[E]verything points to the inevitable disaster – but you’re still on the edge of your seat.
People Magazine


Lawhon builds the narrative on facts...then propels the story forward with the thrust of fiction. This is a novel made all the more readable by weaving its way through a riveting historical event… Flight of Dreams may be viewed as a "Titanic" of the skies. Lawhon's novel, however, needs no such comparison. It has ample emotional fuel to sail on its own, even knowing its spectacular end.
Associated Press


Lawhon deftly braids together the complex threads of her characters' stories, narrating via a keenly observed third-person voice. Her taut prose and subtle plotting create a gripping narrative, rich with historical detail and spiked with plenty of surprises even for those who know the Hindenburg's fate.... [R]eaders will find themselves unable to look away.
Shelf Awareness


Lawhon...reimagines a front-page news event, filling in the entertaining backstory with passion, secrets, and nail-biting suspense.... [She] threads many stories together, connecting passengers and crew and bringing behind-the-scenes depth and humanity to a great 20th-century tragedy—even though we all know the Hindenburg’s fate.
Publishers Weekly


The crew and passengers and some of the conversations were plucked directly from historical accounts, although they never quite come to life as real people here; the clever banter, elaborate plot twists, and period detail will be appreciated by lovers of historical fiction. —Elizabeth Safford, Boxford Town Lib., MA
Library Journal


As the disaster inches closer with every chapte...Lawhon evokes the airborne luxury of the ship...in such detail that you end up feeling a little sad that the stately flight of the Hindenberg marked the end of passenger travel by airship forever. A clever, dramatic presentation of a tragic historical event. Suspenseful and fun.
Kirkus Reviews