An accomplished aviator, writer, and mother, Anne
Lindbergh is forever remembered as the wife of the famous aviator, Charles
Lindbergh. The lives of the Lindberghs
are dramatic in nature. Anne is a young
college girl that travels to Mexico during Christmas break as her father is the
new ambassador to Mexico. Also visiting the
embassy is Charles Lindbergh not too long after his solo flight across the
Atlantic Ocean. Both quiet in nature,
the two connect and Anne is stunned to realize that Charles has picked her over
her more beautiful and outgoing older sister.
She loves to fly as well as Charles and he realizes that she will make
an excellent co-pilot and crew and is also level headed. Anne knows that Charles is famous, but is
overwhelmed by the constant scrutiny and lack of privacy that the wife of
Charles Lindbergh engenders.
As time goes on, Anne starts to feel that her entire
life is controlled by Charles and the media, especially after the events of the
“trial of the century.” As she gets
older, Anne sheds this mentality and finds herself. She writes her books and
also raises her five children basically on her own. She discovers her own self-worth as well as
love. She tries to discover the enigma
that is her husband; will she ever know the mystery that is Charles Lindbergh?
I was sent this book by Eydie, the leader of the
Milwaukee book club I was a member of before moving to Kewaunee 10.5 years
ago. I knew it would be good since Eydie
liked it, so I picked it for the June pick of the FLICKS Book and Movie Club
(aka Rogue). It did provide much discussion
at our meeting. The discussion centered
on not only the amazing events of the Lindbergh’s lives, but also focused on
Anne. What it must have felt like to put
all in as a wife and mother only to discover ultimate betrayal by her
husband. What the kidnapping of the
Lindbergh baby would have been like. How Anne may have seen herself as just the
aviator’s wife, but that she was much more.
We all learned a lot about Anne that we never knew before and her many
accomplishments. We discussed the stoicism
of Charles Lindbergh and what it was like for past generations of men and
women. Plus, did Charles Lindbergh
really live with all three of his mistresses in Germany like I read
online? How the heck would that work?
My favorite quotes from this novel:
“And I understand that betrayal is more enormous
than forgiveness. One more thing Charles
has taught me, in a lifetime of lessons and lectures.”
“Charles was the wind that blew me hither and yon,
that lifted me off this earth, kept me aloft, pulled me along like a helpless
kite, but also gave me wings with which I could touch the sun.”
“But before that, I had been a pilot. An adventurer. I had broken records – but I had forgotten
about them. I had steered aircraft – but
I didn’t think I would know how to, anymore.
I had soared across the sky, every bit as daring as Lucky Lindy himself,
the one person in the world who could keep up with him.
Yet motherhood had brought me down to earth with a
thud and kept me there with tentacles made of diapers and tears and lullabies
and phone calls and car pools and the sticky residue of hair spray and Barbasol
all over the bathroom counter. Would I ever
be able to soar again? Would I ever have
the courage?
Did any woman?”
“I was Mom. I
was Wife. I was Tragedy. I was Pilot.
They all were me, and I, them.
That was a fate we could not escape, we women; we would always be called
upon by others in a way men simply never were.
But weren’t we always, first and foremost – woman? Wasn’t there strength in that, victory,
clarity – in all of the stages of a woman’s life?”
I loved the author’s note at the end of the novel
were she said that “It’s the emotional truths that I imagine” and the rest of
the novel is history.
Overall, The Aviator’s Wife was a great look into
the life of the often underestimated Anne Morrow Lindbergh and into the fraught
marriage of the Lindberghs. It was
filled with high drama. It was a good
historical fiction novel and a great book to discuss at book club.
Book Source:
Copy given to me by my old Milwaukee Book Club Pal, Eydie. I will be passing it along now!
