It is always nerve wracking waiting for publication date and the first reviews.
What will people think of your latest 'literary baby'.
Will they read it carefully before making an assessment?
Will they send it to the second hand bookshop without even looking at it (that has happened!)
And so, I have been having stress attacks for the last couple of weeks worrying about the overall reception even though Australian Eagles has already garnered a few good early bird reviews.
Today, 1 July, is the Official Release Date and my heart is still pattering but for a good reason. I am overwhelmed about Aircrew Book Review's wonderful review. I need a another cup of tea to calm me down.
Read this extract for an idea of just how perceptive this review is:
Previous works by the author have revealed a particularly detailed eye for the personal and this is very much evident in AE, especially so for those featured who did not survive the Battle. Letters and, in some cases, diaries have been pored over and it is clear from each of the ‘biographies’ that there has been much reading between the lines. The standard format of childhood, education, employment, learning to fly etc is, understandably, followed but as much attention is paid to the pre-service life of each man as it is to the ‘exciting’ stuff – their time as pilots. This balance is of course not seen with Sheen or Coward as both survived the Battle (and the war). Reflecting on their survival, the attention paid to the pre-war lives of the men who weren’t so lucky becomes all the more important. Other than their families, where they are still mourned, who else will know why John Kennedy rarely smiled in photographs or that John Crossman’s first flight in his life was with Charles Kingsford Smith? The result of such in-depth research and analysis, lovingly so in some respects, is an understanding beyond anything official records (and most books) will ever provide. The reader is introduced to each of the men and develops an affinity with them – so much so that one can suddenly see behind the cocky grin and rakishly angled service cap. The grey tones of the photographs are noticed less and less as you see the colour of their lives.
Read the whole review at http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/australian-eagles-kristen-alexander.html
Order your copy now at http://www.alexanderfaxbooks.com.au/available-now-australian-eagles-australians-battle-britain
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