Woodcock Flight Seville Trilogy Anthony McDonald Books
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Five friends who first met in Seville when in their twenties are reunited thirty years later in the same city to honour the memory of the sixth member of their set, who has died in the aftermath of a plane crash. But it’s not the arrival in life-affirming Seville that is the main thing - it’s the journey of life that brings them back there. Woodcock Flight deals with mid-life loss - be it of a partner, a job, a career or religious faith - in a spirit of humour, fortitude and optimism it's an up-beat book. Its cast of characters have previously appeared in Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet, and Along The Stars.
Woodcock Flight Seville Trilogy Anthony McDonald Books
This book can stand alone on its own, but because there are so many people in this series you will want to have known them better. This book will test your every emotion. I had read 1, and 2 and I needed tissue. At one point in reading this book I was honestly angry because I had no control over what was happening. By the time I finished I wrote the author and told him he is a gifted writer. I loved this book and this series. The absolute best I have ever read.Product details
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Woodcock Flight Seville Trilogy Anthony McDonald Books Reviews
Woodcock flight brings us yet again into the lives of the old Seville crowd from the previous books. This time they are quite a bit further on in their lives and there is both sadness and hope incorporated into the story. As always with Anthony's books the writing is beautiful and poignant.
"Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for."
Yet the import behind C.P. Cavafy's seminal poem "Ithaca" is that life isn't about the destination, it is about the journey "When you set out for Ithaca / ask that your way be long, / full of adventure, full of instruction."
"Ithaca" echoes throughout this deeply moving story about five friends who first met in the beautiful Spanish city of Seville when in their twenties. Now, thirty years later, they are reunited in the same city to honour the memory of the sixth member of their set, who has died in the aftermath of a plane crash.
Quintessentially English James Miller met Spanish Borja Silva there. They fell in love and now in their fifties live in an English sylvan retreat romantically called Sevenscore. James runs the local town's Regent Theatre, Borja captains 737 airliners about Europe for a holiday tour company. Their lives are entwined with neighbors Andy, one of the old Seville set, and his partner the "boy" Nick, who isn't yet forty. These two own and run the local pub.
If the story were only about these four it would be a fine thing of itself, but in addition to lyrical landscapes, sublime music, greasepaint and actors, and flying machines, Anthony McDonald throws in the glories of Seville--past and present--and a concatenation of friends, friends of friends, and ex-lovers, who each bring a lot more than the single carry-on of emotional baggage allowed in any airplane cabin. There is virginal Catholic priest Karsten, bereft of his beliefs, who opens the story; Pippa is a leading human rights lawyer who rides roughshod over the sensibilities of her friends; years before in Seville, she was engaged to American Mark, a poet who stopped writing after their break-up, who married classical Spanish guitarist Alexa Soares. And there are cheeky Charlie, one of Borja's cabin crew with whom he might have had a fling, and a suave Paco, who years before stole James's previous boyfriend.
Andy and Borja have history as aircrew. With Borja as his flight deck officer, Andy once captained an airliner until he took the brunt of an error which landed their passengers at the wrong Moroccan airport. Now Andy tows gliders into the air at a nearby airfield, while helping Nick run the local village pub. The central four lead an idyllic life until disaster strikes. A prominent element of McDonald's writing is the evident love of flying. Flights are always described in his books with deft brush-strokes so they feel real, but in "Woodcock Flight" he devotes an entire chapter to Borja's return flight to Gatwick from an Athens airport about to close down because of strike action. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that this chapter's detail and authenticity reach such heights of tension that it signals impending disaster. The final minutes as Gatwick's runway appears is a tour de force of action writing which will leave few finger nails unbitten--especially if, like me, you fly in and out of there regularly. I'm sure I know every blade of grass under the approach lights now.
And that disaster is just the first of a series of catastrophes, which plunge James and Nick into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions--facing loss of partner, of job, of faith, of belief in self. There are moments when a choked throat and a stream of tears are not only inevitable but entirely forgivable. But there are laughs too; and redemption and ultimately a spirit of optimism suffuses the pages in a warm glow which is never forced.
This feels like Anthony McDonald's most important work to date--there is an intensity in the prose that suggest autobiography without ever becoming uncomfortably personal--but hopefully it's only one to be further topped in time. Its cast of characters have previously appeared in "Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet" and "Along The Stars", but "Woodcock Flight" may safely be read as a stand-alone story if you haven't read the previous two... in which case you can then treat them as flashbacks.
This is a sublime read.
This is an excellent novel. Period! Well written, it was a great way to look into the lives of those characters we got to know, like, love, dislike during the two previous ones. Nothing cheesy.
Loved this. Anthony McDonald does it again It was good catching up with the gang again. A pleasure to have known them.
This book can stand alone on its own, but because there are so many people in this series you will want to have known them better. This book will test your every emotion. I had read 1, and 2 and I needed tissue. At one point in reading this book I was honestly angry because I had no control over what was happening. By the time I finished I wrote the author and told him he is a gifted writer. I loved this book and this series. The absolute best I have ever read.
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