meant that every 4th of July she got to climb around on tanks and helicopters and watch the Blue Angels buzz overhead in tight formation. When she learned about the WASP—amazing women who stepped up during World War II to serve their country, and, as soon as the war was over, were told to step right back down again and transfer their talent and energy to home and family life—she knew she had to write about them.
Dasher's new novel, her first, is American Sky.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Dasher's reply:
I lean toward fiction that tells a great story while also digging into the essential truths of what it means to be human. ButVisit Carolyn Dasher's website.no soapboxing, please!
I recently finished Martyr, a moving, gorgeous book by Kaveh Akbar that explores the immigrant experience, addiction, death and loss, finding true love, the power of dreams and art—I could go on. And the ending! Absolute apocalyptic brilliance.
Periodically, I try to fill the gaps in my “classics” education. (However anyone defines "classics," Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid, deserves a place on the list.) In this novel about a young West Indian woman who comes to the US to study and work as a nanny, Kincaid takes on colonialism, race, mother-daughter relationships, employer-employee dynamics and, of course, sex. All in under 200 perfectly paced pages.
Next up on my to-read list is Nancy Townsley’s Sunshine Girl, a story about a reporter investigating her own family secrets, set against the backdrop of the threats and violence faced by journalists today.
Q&A with Carolyn Dasher.
The Page 69 Test: American Sky.
--Marshal Zeringue
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