The Aviator's Wife

Being a huge lover of history we all know there are supporting characters that elevated those people to the positions they achieved as they made their way into the history books and it's their back stories that make for some interesting reading. We all know about Charles Lindbergh, the man who made his first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, but we know so very little about his wife, Anne Morrow. If you understand anything about the decade in history up to this point, you should understand the role of the wife was to be supportive and to never really air her opinions about anything to anyone. Most of those conversations were usually conveyed in confidence.

So with that understanding of what Anne's role in a marriage would have been we know in history that women's rights were a hot topic and had been on the minds of women everywhere as they pushed forward to find a voice in the things in the world. This is apparent even in Melanie Benjamin's novel, The Aviator's Wife. Anne Morrow is a smart and successful women in her own right, but her husband Charles cautions her to make sure that he remains the center of focus on both the public and private eye. Many women readers may be put off by that fact, but again historically it was the accepted role for most women to remain silent and supportive. It doesn't mean she didn't have opinions, just wasn't able to voice them the way we do today.

I think Anne retained her fantasy of marriage in the fact that she was marrying a successful man with a certain celebrity like status. It made certain aspects of their life easier, but also eliminated the privacy that both of them at times would like to maintain. Anne often times feels like the proverbial doormat by her husband's consistent treatment to her to keep her in her place and in her role as a wife and mother. It does take the reader into the real story of Anne's struggle to deal with the changes not only in marriage but in society as well. It's a story of power, struggle, determination, and grace under fire and in the end, shows that in circumstances though the road may be difficult to travel, we can move forward if we simply have the determination to keep getting up and trying.

I received The Aviator's Wife compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours and Delacorte Press for my honest review and while I understood certain historical elements, mostly pertaining to Charles Lindbergh, I was delighted to get a sense of what it meant to be the wife of someone famous during those turbulent times in the 20's. I knew it wouldn't be an easy read and for someone to truly appreciate the story, you really have to understand the role of women back in those time periods. The story of how they dealt with the kidnapping and lose of Charles Jr. is heartbreaking, but again shows the determination of Anne to remain focused on keeping her marriage in tact despite all the odds that come their way. I easily rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

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The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

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