The Lost Pilots: The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviation's Golden Couple

by Corey Mead Narrated by Holter Graham

Overview

Corey Mead's The Lost Pilots is the saga of two star crossed pilots who soar to the greatest heights of fame, tailspin into scandal and crime, and go the ultimate lengths for a chance at redemption.

During the height of the roaring twenties, Jessie Miller longs for adventure. Fleeing a passionless marriage in the backwaters of Australia, twenty-three-year-old Jessie arrives in London and promptly falls in with the Bright Young Things, those gin-soaked boho-chic intellectuals draped in suits, flapper dresses, and pearls. At a party Jessie meets Captain William Lancaster, married himself and fresh from the Royal Air Force, with a scheme in his head to become as famous as Charles Lindbergh, who has just crossed the Atlantic. Lancaster will do Lindy one better: fly from London to Melbourne, and in Jessie Miller he's found the perfect co-pilot.

Within months the two embark on a half-year journey across the globe, hopping from one colonial outpost to the next. But like world records, marriage vows can be broken, and upon their landing in Melbourne Jessie and William are not only international celebrities, but also deeply in love.

Yet the crash of 1929 catches up to even the fastest aviator, and the couple finds themselves in dire straits at their rented house on the outskirts of Miami - the bright glare of the limelight fading quickly.To make ends meet Jessie agrees to write a memoir, and picks the dashing Haden Clarke to be her ghostwriter. It's not long before this toxic mix of bootleg booze and a handsome interloper leads to a shocking crime, a trial that rivets and scandalizes the world, and a reckless act of abandon to win back former glory.

The Lost Pilots is an extraordinary true story, brought to vivid life by Corey Mead. Based on years of research, and full of adventure, forbidden passion, crime, scandal and tragedy, it is a masterwork of narrative nonfiction that firmly restores one of aviation's leading female pioneers to her rightful place in history.

Praise for The Lost Pilots:

"The tale of two intrepid aviators who got caught in a sordid scandal... How the pair ended up in a Miami courtroom is the subject of Mead's colorful, fast-paced narrative, a tale of ambition, betrayal, lust, and devotion...A brisk, entertaining history of daring and passion." - Kirkus

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

06/11/2018
Mead (Angelic Music: The Story of Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica) revisits a tragic and scandalous interwar romance in this vivid true crime narrative. The prologue, set in 1932 Miami, casts an ominous shadow over the story of William Lancaster, a British aviator, and Jessie Keith-Miller, his “longtime flying partner and lover, and one of the pioneering female aviators of the period.” Lancaster is introduced as a defendant in a murder trial, accused of fatally shooting Haden Clarke, Keith-Miller’s new paramour. Then Mead flashes back to 1927, when Lancaster and Keith-Miller, both in troubled marriages, first meet in London. After Lancaster mentions his plan to make history with an unprecedented solo flight from England to Australia in a light plane, Keith-Miller volunteers to arrange the necessary financing in exchange for joining him. Their successful venture makes them international celebrities, and they become lovers before growing apart in the wake of professional difficulties. Mead’s use of primary sources, including Lancaster’s diary and his lawyer’s private account of the trial, enables him to craft a age-turner that recreates a time when the people pushing the envelope of what early aircraft could do became heroes. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (May)

From the Publisher

“The Lost Pilots is a rich, vivid recreation of a lost era—when flying was new and the frontiers were fresh, but humans were the passionate, irrational creatures we’ve always been. It is Mead’s great achievement that he tells a story in which the tapestry of the time and the doings in the courtroom are equal parts of his narrative whole. The Lost Pilots is irresistible."
— Jeffrey Kluger, New York Times bestselling author of Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon

“In The Lost Pilots, Corey Mead spins an electric tale about two ambitious lovers who risked everything for fame, only to be brought low by a toxic mix of jealousy and despair. Meticulously researched and told with wondrous flair, this story will work its magic on you as it conjures the era when only the most audacious souls could rule the skies.”
—Brendan I. Koerner, author of The Skies Belong to Us and Now the Hell Will Start

JULY 2018 - AudioFile

Holter Graham narrates the exploits of two early pilots, RAF Captain William Lancaster and Australian Jessie Miller. These daring aviators flew from London to Melbourne, breaking records along the way. Before and during the Depression, Lancaster and Miller fly back and forth across North America utilizing their aerial skills. As their passion for one another grows, their fortunes fail, and their careers founder, Lancaster is accused of murdering their housemate, Haden Clarke, hired as a ghostwriter for Jessie’s memoir. Graham adopts an overly dramatic delivery style as he recounts the adventures of Lancaster and Miller. While softening his voice to portray Miller, Graham reads the narrative and the men’s dialogue with little differentiation. On the plus side, he enunciates clearly and adds emotion to this real-life drama. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-20
The tale of two intrepid aviators who got caught in a sordid scandal.On Aug. 2, 1932, William Lancaster, a renowned British pilot, stood trial for murder. Watching nervously among hundreds of spectators was Australian Jessie Keith-Miller, Lancaster's former co-pilot and lover. How the pair ended up in a Miami courtroom is the subject of Mead's (English/Baruch Coll.; Angelic Music: The Story of Benjamin Franklin's Glass Armonica, 2016, etc.) colorful, fast-paced narrative, a tale of ambition, betrayal, lust, and devotion. The story begins in 1927, when Lancaster and Keith-Miller took off from London, aiming to make a record-breaking flight to Australia, the first in a light plane. The two were basically strangers, but they bonded over their desire for adventure, fame, and escape from unhappy marriages. Lancaster had been a Royal Air Force pilot, but Keith-Miller learned to fly shortly before the flight. After two hours of instruction, she was already flying solo. Mead underscores the sexism that pervaded aeronautics in the 1920s: Keith-Miller and her new friend Amelia Earhart decried the "public prejudice against women aviators." Flying was undeniably risky. Planes were small, vulnerable to "slashing rain and battering wind," sleet, and fog; engines failed, fuel leaked, parts broke midflight, and crashes occurred with frightening frequency. When Lancaster and Keith-Miller landed in Australia, they instantly became "the world's thrilling new heroes." They also became lovers. In the months following their success, they looked forward to careers in aviation—until 1929, when a severe economic downturn dried up money for test flights and competitions. The author recounts the couple's financial troubles, which led Keith-Miller to take up a publisher's suggestion that she write her autobiography. She teamed with a ghostwriter, and while Lancaster was away pursuing a dicey moneymaking scheme, she fell in love with him. Lancaster was devastated, yet when he returned to Keith-Miller, he seemed resigned to their decision to marry. Then a shot was fired, and Miller and Lancaster became international news.A brisk, entertaining history of daring and passion.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171982270
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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