by June O'Sullivan (Author)

An Irish woman dares to conquer the skies - and discovers that freedom comes at a cost.

"A powerful, inspiring story of courage and obsession."
"Vivid, moving and unforgettable."
"An extraordinary portrait of one woman who refused to stay grounded."

In 1928, Sophie Peirce-Evans marries Sir James Heath. With her new titled status as Lady Heath, she embarks on her most daring adventure yet: a solo flight in a biplane from Cape Town to London. Already a trailblazer - a world-record athlete, Britain's first woman to parachute from a plane and first to earn a commercial pilot's license - she is determined to prove that women belong in aviation and to showcase the potential of an aviation route from the colonies.

Fiercely independent, Sophie charts her 10,000-mile route using pages from a road atlas, services her own aircraft, and defies every restriction placed on women.

But as she soars over the vast continent memories from a traumatic past resurface: her mother murdered, her father imprisoned in an Irish asylum, and a childhood shaped by repression and loss.

Having been stricken with sunstroke, crash-landing in the wilderness and nursed by local women, thwarted at every turn by the authorities and ultimately seeking help from Mussolini, she finally lands in London - heels, furs and all.

Though celebrated, Sophie realises fame cannot free her from her past. She has conquered the skies but not the shadows that follow.

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