Girl Flees Circus
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
When nineteen-year-old aviatrix Katie Burke crash lands her biplane on the only street in No Name, New Mexico, her arrival changes her life and the lives of everyone around her. As Katie and her craft need repair, locals take her in and help her, including a schoolteacher who longs for Katie’s friendship, an interracial couple who own the town’s diner, a handsome young mechanic who lives in a teepee, and a shell-shocked veteran of World War I.
As her story unfolds, Katie’s mysteries deepen—revealing shocking secrets, a scandalous past, and a future in true peril. Girl Flees Circus takes flight the moment Katie crashes to earth, promising a journey into the lives of a glamorous, redheaded stranger and the people she will change forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith (Steplings) delivers a rousing if overstuffed story of an aviator who crashes a stolen plane in 1928 New Mexico. Katie Burke's accident happens in the town of Noname, when she pulls up the Wright Whirlwind from a landing attempt to avoid a Model T driven by Mabel Cross, the town's teacher whose suppressed sexuality is reawoken by her encounter with Katie after the crash. Various townspeople help Katie repair her aircraft, including Leonard, an 18-year-old electronics whiz; feminist Louise Larsen and her WWI veteran husband, Howard; and interracial couple Otis Jefferson and Mildred Jackson, who deal with racism while running a local café. Katie's journey to California is delayed after Leonard has an accident at an oil rig, and she takes him to the hospital in Carlsbad. Her escape plans are further endangered by the arrival of Sheriff Brown, who had formerly harassed and humiliated Otis at a Juneteenth celebration. The author creates a squadron of great characters as well as a promising premise, though the chockablock social issues feel a bit too designed to appeal to contemporary readers. Moreover, Smith unnecessarily withholds key plot information—such as why Katie stole the plane—for too long. The scenery is pleasant, but there's a bit too much turbulence.
