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Last week, I reviewed the TV series Annika. Anne shared the story of another of her British ancestors in the Champion de Crespigny line — this one a woman named Cerise whose fashionable wedding was covered (complete with dress illustrations) by The Queen magazine. Tina reviewed The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy, as part of an effort to clear her bookshelves.

Book: A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs #17)
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Harper
Publication date: 2022
Pages: 352

Source: e-book borrowed from library

Summary: Britain has been at war for three years. Women were trained as pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary, a civilian organization that ferried planes from factories to RAF airfields.

Jo Hardy, like many women, flies with the grief of a lost fiancé from the RAF and a lost friend, a colleague in the ATA. Flying over English countryside, she never expected to be shot at. When she returns with a friend to investigate who was shooting at planes from a barn, they discover an African-American soldier trussed up in the barn. They learn from him that another American soldier, a white man, is missing.

Jo Hardy and her friend rescue the soldier and return him to the American armed forces, but things don’t sit right with Jo. Among other things, she’s concerned that the soldier will be blamed for things he didn’t do, just because he’s black.

Enter Maisie Dobbs to see if she can piece together what happened, find the missing soldier, and learn why someone on English soil is shooting at British planes. It turns out the story gets much more complicated from there and involves the upcoming visit by the American First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Thoughts: This series began in the late 1920s, so I’m thrilled that it reached one of my favorite eras, World War II. I’m also particularly partial to the activities of women during the war. Too many war books focus completely on men as if women disappear from the world during war. Where do they think we go? Some of us flew planes.

Another reason that I loved reading this book was due to the appearance of Eleanor Roosevelt. I recently finished The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn where the First Lady had a big role, so it was fun to revisit her again so soon. I should definitely review that book, but it doesn’t qualify for British Isles Friday and I’m always slower to get those reviews written.

Appeal: For the most part, I recommend reading this series in order. But if the idea of reading 17 books is daunting and you have a particular interest in female pilots, I think you would enjoy this book. It summarizes the past, as needed. It will spoil the overarching stories of Maisie and her friends in the previous books, but the mystery stands alone.

Challenges: This is my fifth review for The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. That meets the goal that I signed up for — five books at the Victorian Reader level. That’s a good thing because I seem to be better at reading historical fiction than keeping track of the number. For the rest of the year, I’ll just read and share. Check out the list of books that participants read in May.

Have you read this book? What did you think?