An Irish woman dares to conquer the skies — and discovers that freedom comes at a cost.
The extraordinary true story of Lady Mary Heath
‘A powerful, inspiring story of courage and obsession.’
‘Vivid, moving and unforgettable.’
‘An extraordinary portrait of one woman who refused to stay grounded.’
In 1928, Sophie Peirce-Evans marries Sir James Heath. With her new titled status as Lady Heath, she embarks on her most daring adventure yet: a solo flight in a biplane from Cape Town to London. Already a trailblazer – a world-record athlete, Britain’s first woman to parachute from a plane and first to earn a commercial pilot’s license – she is determined to prove that women belong in aviation and to showcase the potential of an aviation route from the colonies.
Fiercely independent, Sophie charts her 10,000-mile route using pages from a road atlas, services her own aircraft, and defies every restriction placed on women.
But as she soars over the vast continent memories from a traumatic past resurface: her mother murdered, her father imprisoned in an Irish asylum, and a childhood shaped by repression and loss.
Having been stricken with sunstroke, crash-landing in the wilderness and nursed by local women, thwarted at every turn by the authorities and ultimately seeking help from Mussolini, she finally lands in London – heels, furs and all.
Though celebrated, Sophie realises fame cannot free her from her past. She has conquered the skies but not the shadows that follow.
Genre: Historical
The extraordinary true story of Lady Mary Heath
‘A powerful, inspiring story of courage and obsession.’
‘Vivid, moving and unforgettable.’
‘An extraordinary portrait of one woman who refused to stay grounded.’
In 1928, Sophie Peirce-Evans marries Sir James Heath. With her new titled status as Lady Heath, she embarks on her most daring adventure yet: a solo flight in a biplane from Cape Town to London. Already a trailblazer – a world-record athlete, Britain’s first woman to parachute from a plane and first to earn a commercial pilot’s license – she is determined to prove that women belong in aviation and to showcase the potential of an aviation route from the colonies.
Fiercely independent, Sophie charts her 10,000-mile route using pages from a road atlas, services her own aircraft, and defies every restriction placed on women.
But as she soars over the vast continent memories from a traumatic past resurface: her mother murdered, her father imprisoned in an Irish asylum, and a childhood shaped by repression and loss.
Having been stricken with sunstroke, crash-landing in the wilderness and nursed by local women, thwarted at every turn by the authorities and ultimately seeking help from Mussolini, she finally lands in London – heels, furs and all.
Though celebrated, Sophie realises fame cannot free her from her past. She has conquered the skies but not the shadows that follow.
Genre: Historical
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Used availability for June O'Sullivan's The Sky is not Enough