The long flight home
(Book)

Includes reading group guide.

September 1940, as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Since losing her parents as a child, Susan Shepherd has raised homing pigeons with her grandfather, Bertie. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan, but none more so than Duchess, with whom she shares a special bond. When a young pilot named Ollie Evans travels to Britain to join the Royal Air Force, his quest brings him to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment. The mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France. Many will not survive. Those that do make the journey home can convey crucial information on German troop movements. The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. When Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. Yet Duchess's devotion and her singular sense of duty will become an unexpected lifeline.