Bride Flight
ABOUT
THE BOOK
It is 1953, and the last great transcontinental air race from London to Christchurch is about to begin, but even before the KLM plane has left the runway, it has already become famous as the ‘bride flight’. Of its sixty emigrating passengers, many are brides-to-be flying out to join their fiancés on the other side of the world. Among them are Ada, Marjorie and Esther, each of them with their own reasons for wanting to leave behind the hardships of post-war life at home, and their own pasts. During the trip they meet Frank, a charismatic bachelor, who will come to have a dramatic influence on their lives, and who exerts a continued hold over each of the women as they follow their very different paths in New Zealand. It is only when they meet again, years later, at Frank’s funeral, that the three women – now ‘brides in black’ – get to hear each other’s stories for the first time and realize just how closely their lives have been bound together by what happened on the bride flight.
Original title in Dutch Bruidsvlucht , Nijgh & Van Ditmar (2007)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Colleen
Higgins
Colleen Higgins was born and raised on the prairies of Minnesota in the United States, and the Netherlands has been her home for many of the years since then. She began working as a translator in 1998, and translates a variety of texts from Dutch to English, including literature (fiction and nonfiction), culinary or food-related texts, academic and scientific texts, song lyrics, and, occasionally, poetry. (Flanders Literature)
Colleen Higgins was born and raised on the prairies of Minnesota in the United States, and the Netherlands has been her home for many of the years since then. She began working as a translator in 1998, and translates a variety of texts from Dutch to English, including literature (fiction and nonfiction), culinary or food-related texts, academic and scientific texts, song lyrics, and, occasionally, poetry. (Flanders Literature)
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
A flight from London to Christchurch in 1953, carrying brides-to-be to join their fiancés. It is the subtle emotional and psychological journey – and the shackles impeding women from moving on – that provide greatest engagement here.