May 04, 2023

THE AIRMAN’S GIRL

MY THOUGHTS:

Poland 1939: Helena, a young Polish woman has aspirations of being a doctor of psychiatry.  She wants to work at her father’s mental health facility.  Helena meets Max when he ejects from his airplane just before it crashes.  The plane crashes over Helena’s parents' farmland, and Max survives the crash but is injured.  Helena nurses Max and tends to his injuries.  As the relationship between them develops, Max tells Helena that he didn’t crash his plane, but actually parachuted out of his plane because he was defecting into Poland to be free from the Nazis.  They begin to fall in love with each other during such an uncertain time in life.  But when the Nazis arrive in the small Polish town Helena and Max’s world comes crashing down around them.  Helena and her younger twin siblings are arrested by the Germans and thrown into prison.  Max is Helena’s only hope for survival, but will his plan to rescue them work or is this their fate?


The Airman's Girl by Carly Schabowski was an amazing story of love, family, friendship, danger, courage and survival.  This book was based on a true story.  I learned so much about World War II, that I didn’t know.  The author did an amazing job of teaching the reader about things that happened during the war that weren’t talked about very much.  I felt compassion for and an emotional connection to Helena and Max.  They were wonderful people, and I enjoyed learning and following their story. This story captured me from the very beginning and broke my heart all the way to the end.  I highly recommend this fabulous book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

DESCRIPTION:

THE AIRMAN’S GIRL
Author: Carly Schabowski

Publisher:  Bookouture 
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Pages: 337 
Buy on Amazon

Poland, 1939: As I stare into the German pilot’s frightened eyes, I realise I have no choice but to help him. And in that moment, I know that this young man, and this decision, will change my life forever…

When a German pilot crashes over my parents’ farmland, at first I am terrified. Who is this man? And should I help him, or have him arrested? But when I look into his eyes for the first time, I feel in my heart that I must do everything I can to save this stranger’s life.

As I begin to secretly nurse his injuries, he tells me his name is 
Max. And as we share whispered candlelit conversations, he admits that he didn’t crash his plane, but parachuted over Poland to defect from the Nazis. And as he slowly tells me his story, I realise I am falling in love with this man – with his bravery, and his determination to do what is right, no matter the cost.

But when the Nazis arrive, the small world we have built together is shattered in an instant. And when the Germans arrest me and my twin siblings, dragging us to a camp in the dead of night, I know that our only chance of survival, our only hope, is to be rescued.

As I sit in my cell, I think of what Max told me. He held my hand and promised me that if we were arrested, he would go undercover as a German soldier and save us. But will the guards believe his story? And, even if they do, will he make it to us before it is too late?

ABOUT CARLY SCHABOWSKI

Carly Schabowski worked as a journalist in both North   Cyprus and Australia before returning to Oxford, where she studied for an MA and then a PhD in creative writing at Oxford Brookes University. Carly now teaches at Oxford Brookes University as an associate lecturer in Creative Writing for first and second-year English literature students.

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