Noelle Salazar Releases The Flight Girls

Fortified by the bonds of sisterhood, a resilient young woman charts an unconventional course in pursuit of her dreams and navigates adversity, tragedy, and love along the way in THE FLIGHT GIRLS (MIRA Books; July 2). Inspired by the real-life female pilots who aided the military during World War II, this exquisite book by author Noelle Salazar illuminates a little-known historical chapter and re-imagines the heroines at its center. October 1941. With Europe already at war, Audrey Coltrane has come to Hawaii to instruct Army aviators. Ever since she was just a girl, she has been happiest in the cockpit. One day soon, she plans to buy an airfield near her home in Dallas. No man will distract her from her goals, she vows to the fellow fliers who have become cherished friends, not even the dashing Lieutenant James Hart. Still, their shared experience dodging Japanese gunfire above Pearl Harbor one momentous December morning only deepens their connection. Sent into a tailspin of grief by all that has been lost in the attack, Audrey rallies to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots program. Alight with purpose once more, she draws strength from her relationships with the other recruits and the importance of their mission. But the horrors of war are never far away. And when James gets shot down over enemy territory, Audrey risks everything to fight for the future she now envisions, one filled with precious dreams old and new. Extensively researched and vividly told, THE FLIGHT GIRLS provide a lens through which to view the WASP groundbreakers who volunteered to serve their country despite the danger and then vanished into obscurity. Their courageous example is brought to unforgettable life in these stirring pages by a remarkable protagonist determined to make her mark in a changing world.