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Bluebirds: A Battle of Britain Novel
Society of Authors member #61544
Four ordinary young men are thrown together as Hitler plunges Europe into its darkest hours. Their fates will be decided in the most cruel and extraordinary way.
Andrew Francis and Gerry Donaldson were born on different sides of the Atlantic just before The Great War. Together with the mildly psychotic Bryan Hale, they fly Spitfires through the summer of 1940.
Invasion is imminent and England faces almost certain defeat after Hitler’s unstoppable armies slice through France to the Channel coast. Fighter Command risks total destruction as they rise to meet the Fuhrer’s Luftwaffe hordes in what would become The Battle of Britain.
Based on true stories and events, Melvyn Fickling’s impressive debut novel Bluebirds recasts Winston Churchill’s ‘Few’ in the darker shadow of their desperate times, fighting against terrifying odds with the ever-present expectation of violent, murderous death.
Gerry, the first American to fire guns in anger against the Nazis, fights in spite of American isolationism, relinquishing his US citizenship and becoming a reluctant propaganda tool for the Air Ministry along the way.
Newly-married Andrew fights to protect his pregnant wife.
Bryan fights for the simple pleasure of the kill.
Vincent Drew, broken by childhood abuse, tumbles into their world and tears it apart…
The first in a series of historical novels, Bluebirds is meticulously researched and faithfully evokes the terrifying and often heart-rending experiences both in the air and on the ground during the crucial first year of the Second World War as Britain strove to keep the German wolves from the door.
Praise for Melvyn Fickling
Flying with The Few - Review in FlyPast Magazine October 2017
"The first part of a proposed trilogy, Bluebirds stands alone as a gripping fictionalised account of The Battle of Britain, documenting how the lives of its four central characters become intertwined.
This has clearly been a labour of love for author Melvyn Fickling, who writes with great clarity about the fast-moving events of that pivotal summer, and who imbues his descriptions of flight with boundless enthusiasm. Structured in time-linear format, Melvyn adheres closely to history, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere that becomes all too tragic when the cost of war is realised. The story follows the path of four pilots, starting with the formative years of three of them, and working its way forward, documenting the fears of war in Europe, and how the threat influences the decisions of all.
Andrew Francis joins the pre-war RAF - idealistic and well-mannered, he is somewhat shocked at the fiery antics of fellow pilot Bryan Hale, with whom he nevertheless becomes friends. When war erupts, they are joined at Kenley by American pilot Gerry Donaldson, a volunteer facing pressure from British authorities to document his experiences - a propaganda bid to involve the US more closely in the conflict.
Eventually Vincent Drew comes under their wing. Troubled by years of childhood abuse and hiding a serious health condition, with Vincent comes tragedy. In an excellent narrative, the author captures the mood of the times - the fear of invasion, the differing attitudes to the enemy, and the carry-on-regardless spirit that kept Britain in the war." FlyPast Magazine
