Together Under the Stars
RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, England, 1943. Four hunky Canadian airmen arrive to help replenish Bomber Command’s depleted stock of flying crew. Pilot hunk Steve and knock-out WAAF Nancy are smitten before page two but try keeping it cool so’s to avoid possibly tragic consequences, her aircrew brother already MIA. Nancy’s bestie Jean hooks up with navigator hunk Ricky, and they all pass the time between raids drinking gallons of tea and/or alcohol everywhere they go and “roaring with laughter” at the drop of an RAF beret. Before you know it, 30 missions have flown by, not without loss or mishap, nevertheless everyone volunteers to carry on beyond D-Day. Then Steve’s Lancaster bomber is badly shot up, but he manages, just, to coax it back to Blighty. Intense hospitalisation follows, he recovers, and after more missions it’s all over and he can instigate his cunning plan to get hitherto reluctant Nancy to join him back home in Canada.
Adolf aside, there is not a single even mildly unpleasant or threatening character in the entire 400 pages; everybody is incessantly nice, helpful, and kind. “Hell” is the only swear word. Hints at an intriguing Canadian backstory are disappointing; it turns out the hunks are also loaded but were too polite to say so. The extremely uncomplicated plot and dialogue create a book hard to put down only because it is so lightweight. File under Romance (Teenage).
