Above Us, The Stars - Jane Gulliford Lowes

 

Above Us, The Stars tells of the stories of the airmen of 10 Squadron Bomber Command, flying Halifax Bombers in the Second World War.  It tells the stories of those that flew, those that made it back, and those that made the ultimate sacrifice whilst undertaking missions over German and the constant fear of death that comes with these missions.  It also gives a new perspective about how those missions impacted upon civilians in Germany and how that affected the airmen.

It tells not only of the missions themselves but brilliantly captures the human stories behind the aircraft, of how families coped and intertwines those family stories with the story of Flt Sgt John Clyde DFM, a 20-year-old wireless operator and how it affected him and his family.

Jane Gulliford Lowes beautifully captures the atmosphere and feeling of what these brave airmen and their families had to deal with throughout the war.   The book gives you a real feel of the commitment of these airmen and the sacrifices they made.   It has a fantastic level of detail without going into nerdville and yet it draws you into the world of the airmen.  Within the first few chapters you are engrossed, riding a roller coaster of emotions, and wanting to find out more about who these men were.

This is a must-read book, it wills you to finish reading it and makes you live the lives, feelings and deaths of the airmen, their families, and the German civilians that the bombing affected. 

This is a FIVE STAR book brilliantly written.