The Prince of the Skies by Antonio Iturbe

From the bestselling author of The Librarian of Auschwitz comes another captivating historical novel based on a true story – the extraordinary life and mysterious death of.

Only the best pilots are given jobs at Latécoère - the company destined to become Aéropostale. The successful candidates include Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A man whose desire to fly will put him at odds with his aristocratic family and the girl who loves him – but who wants to keep him grounded. Together with his friends Jean and Henri, they will change the history of aviation and pioneer new mail routes across the world. But Antoine is also destined to touch the lives of millions of readers with his story The Little Prince.

But as war begins to threaten Europe, is Antoine’s greatest adventure yet to come . . .?

Translated by Lilit Žekulin Thwaites, this is a novel about love and friendship, war and heroism and the power of the written word.

About the author

ANTONIO ITURBE was born in 1967 and grew up in the dock-side neighbourhood of Barceloneta, in Barcelona. His first novel The Librarian of Auschwitz was the number one selling book in translation in the UK last year. It has been translated into 30 languages and has sold over 600K copies internationally.

Having grown up reading Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s books, Iturbe was inspired to write about the author’s extraordinary life. He conducted extensive research and, despite suffering from vertigo, even flew in a biplane so he would understand how it felt to fly. Iturbe hopes to translate not only the facts but also the poetry of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s writing in The Prince of the Skies.

Review

‘The Prince of the Skies’ is a enthralling, magical tale that weaves the story of Antoine de Saint-Exupér, the author of the Little Prince and aviator extraordinaire, with that of the history of the period. Despite being a Count Antoine comes from humble beginning and finds the joy of the flying whilst in the military forces. He dances through the air, practicing tricks, flying to the limits of his aircraft. But at the same time he falls in love with a rich girl called Lou-Lou who insists he give up flying. Eventually, he returns to his passion and helps to create ‘par Avion where he literally flies to the ends of the world to give people their mail.

The author has such a way with words that is breathtaking. It's stunning in its descriptions, the visual layers it places in your imagination is exquisite. He really does manage to convey the excitement and magic of flying. Some of my favourite scenes were when the Sheikh was up in the air and the delivery of mail to the old woman at the bottom of the world.
The emotion that came through was something special, pure and wonderful.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Considering this was Antoine’s story I was just as captivated with Henri and Mendoza’s tales as well. Three very different characters but ones when they come together created a wonderfully rich narrative. I had absolutely no knowledge of Antoine’s life before reading this book but this is one of the reasons why reading historical fiction is so joyful as it's illuminating and educational. Especially, in this case with the biographical elements of his life.

Don't hesitate with giving this one a chance as it's beautiful.