Walking on Air - Hardcover

Jones, R. S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395745454 ISBN 13: 9780395745458

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 1995

Synopsis

In his new novel, Walking on Air, R. S. Jones has produced a gripping meditation on the bonds of love and trust in the face of shattering crisis. William Addams is dying. Controlling, mercurial, estranged from his family, he is consumed by the fear that he'll be abandoned as his disease careens out of his control. To avoid this, he focuses his considerable attention on Henry and Susan, his closest friends, the only people to whom his care can fall.
It has always been William's desperate hope that the bonds of friendship will prove to be as durable as any family ties, yet he cannot rid himself of the dread that Susan and Henry will leave him. What he wants is for their faithfulness to last until they take him home to his beloved house to die. But as William's condition worsens, it becomes apparent that his expectations of devotion and loyalty involve not simply a loving commitment but the virtual handing over of his friends' vitality and independence; indeed, William covets their very lives.

About this title

Review

What better way to cure a phobia, then to face the fear head on? When 28-year-old aerophobe, Billie Pascoe takes on a warehouse on the edge of an airfield, her family and friends think her positively mad. When Billie gets involved in an airshow, they think she has completely lost it. Running from the mistakes of her past, Billie lands in Amberley Hill and works as a taxi driver for creepy Ruben, and then trades in her taxi cab keys for an empty warehouse. Despite Ruben's constant plaguing and interference, Billie is determined to shake free from the secret that Ruben holds over her. With the help and support of her colourful neighbours she hopes to make her warehouse a success. Things start looking up when the gorgeous pilot, Jonah Sullivan, owner of Sullivanair, arrives on the scene. The plot thickens when Jonah's ex-wife shows up insinuating that she and her wealthy new husband might buy up the airfield and the warehouses. Billie leads the warehousers and they band together to save their businesses. But can Billie save the day and keep her secret safe?

This is a great holiday read but consume it in one go or you might start to forget who is interested in whom. If you have never heard of "wing-walking," this book will make you want to don a cat suit and jump on the wing of a plane next time you are up there. Christina Jones' heroines are daredevil gutsy women in books such as Stealing the Show or Running the Risk and "Walking on Air" is no exception. --Neena Dutta

From the Author

Thanks if you've already bought Walking On Air - if not...
If you've already bought Walking on Air, thank you so much - I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it: if you haven't bought it yet - go on, treat yourself! You get men in uniform, lots of laughs, and tons of second-hand terror - and all for under a fiver! Oh, and there are no desperate singletons here - everyone is having far too much fun to worry about the size of their bums.

When I wrote my other novels, they were all based round backgrounds I knew about - Going the Distance and Jumping to Conclusions because my grandad was a jockey, Stealing the Show because my dad was a fairground traveller, and Running the Risk because I'm married to the toyboy trucker. However, Walking On Air was a bit of a departure - I had to do research! So, last year we spent loads of time with the only wingwalking team in Europe, the Utterly Butterly Barnstormers - who taught me all I needed to know... Of course, this was very tough because it meant the toyboy trucker had to spend his weekends with four gorgeous women dressed in skin-tight lycra - mind you, there were compensations - it meant that I got to play with the pilots... It's a hard life, this writing business - but a lot more fun than working in the doughnut factory. (Yes, honestly!)

If you enjoyed Walking On Air please let me know... I'll really look forward to hearing from you. Meanwhile I'm going to the dogs - my next novel, Nothing To Lose, is based around greyhound racing, which is a great excuse for a few boozy nights out.

Thanks again - and all best wishes, Christina

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395745454
• ISBN 13: 9780395745458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 253