The real history of World War II's most daring fighter squadron is the inspiration for this riveting novel of adventure and romance in the Far East. Three years after the liberation of Singapore, transport pilot Lee Crane is finally ready to leave. The Berlin airlift is on, and there's decent money to be made if you possess both your own plane and a practiced disregard for safety. One last drink with his Indo-Air fly buddies at the Long Bar in Raffles hotel and Crane is gone. Then he sees her: the tall, beautiful redhead he had every reason to believe was dead. If Elsa is alive - and still angry, judging by the sock to the jaw she greets him with - what else might Crane have gotten wrong about the past? In 1941, Lee Crane was a Flying Tiger, one of dozens of American pilots recruited to join the Chinese Air Force in the fight against the Japanese. Wild in the air and on the ground, the Tigers broke hearts all over Burma, and Crane was no different - until he fell in love with a stunning Anglo-Indian widow. But in the chaos of war, Crane lost track of the woman of his dreams, and spent the next seven years convincing himself it wasn't meant to be. Now a chance encounter with another long-lost beauty has him ready to plunge back into the past, praying he will come up with a different answer this time.
"The flying scenes are brilliantly handled. Ryan's research is impressive and his atmospheric portrayal of wartime Burma gives the book the enjoyable feel of an oriental reworking of Casablanca. Bold and successful."
The Sunday Times
"A ripping yarn of guts, gold and lethal redheads. Buy it, but don't read it on an aeroplane."
