Sisters of the Sky
Lana Kortchik tells the story of the Soviet women’s aviation regiments created by Marina Raskova after Hitler invaded Russia in 1941. The two protagonists, Nina and Katya, are best friends who volunteer as pilots for the motherland. The actual Russian commanders – including Raskova – appear in their adventures, which are also influenced by the memoirs and diaries of many real-life women flyers.
In the face of the German invasion, in a besieged Moscow, Nina and Katya say tearful farewells to their last remaining male relatives – Nina’s brother, Vlad, and Katya’s husband, Anton – who are flying to the front. It is not long before the women sign up for Raskova’s regiment. But Katya is ambivalent, not knowing whether volunteering or staying home is best for her baby, Tonya. By the winter of 1942, the women’s Dive Bomber Regiment, equipped with Pe-2 twin-engined aeroplanes, is defending Stalingrad in its epic battle and destroying Nazi infrastructure. The women are joyfully reunited with Vlad and Anton, who have volunteered for the Stalingrad front to be near them, but the pressures of frontline combat over enemy territory begin to test them all, intensifying anxieties and eventually forcing fissures in the strongest relationships.
Kortchik effectively conveys the Russian experience of the Second World War. She is skilled in the vignette which exemplifies the deprivations and tragedies of ordinary people, as well as their heroism and endurance. Less predictability in descriptive phrasing and a little more variegated weight to Nina’s emotional monologue would have convinced me more.
But readers who enjoy stories of women’s wartime experiences will enjoy flying combat missions with them on the Russian front line. It will also appeal to readers who enjoy historical romance in a well-evoked setting, with a pair of star-crossed lovers thrown in.
