The Last Pilot
I was dismayed at the author’s choice to omit dialogue quote marks, but it wasn’t long before I forgot that and got caught up in this wonderful first novel. It begins in 1947, when Jim Harrison is among the pilots in the post-war California desert who test the limits of rocket-powered aircraft. It’s a dangerous occupation, with pilots being killed as often as once a week. Jim’s wife Grace longs for a child but has a condition that prevents her from getting pregnant. Jim declines a chance to join the Mercury project, because it doesn’t involve any skill in piloting, merely sitting there like a lab animal. Despite the odds, Grace gets pregnant, and the Harrisons are enchanted with their little daughter Florence. After tragedy strikes, Jim volunteers for the next round of astronaut selection, but Grace comes to hate living in Houston and the expectations the public places on astronauts’ wives. When she flees back to California, the negative publicity of divorce looms over Jim’s career, compounded by torment over his role in Florence’s fate.
Johncock has said the book is a “love letter” to the test pilots and astronauts of the 1950s and ´60s. Fictional Harrison interacts with real people: Chuck Yeager, Neil Armstrong, and Pancho Barnes, legendary owner of the test pilots’ hangout bar. I’m old enough to remember some of the public side of the space race, and this book gave me a new perspective on what went on behind the scenes that the media of the time didn’t talk about. Fans of Mad Men and Astronaut Wives Club will be drawn to the mid-century atmosphere. A small quibble is that Florence seems over-the-top precocious for age two, but Jim and Grace’s relationship rings true. Memorable characters and setting produce a great historical fiction reading experience.
