A Pair of Wings
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Alaska Jackson
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By:
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Carole Hopson
About this listen
An airline captain crafts a riveting, adventurous novel inspired by the remarkable true life of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation and found freedom in the air
A few years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, Bessie was working the Texas cotton fields with her family when an airplane flew over their heads. It buzzed so low she thought she could catch it in her hands. Bessie was fearless. She knew there was freedom in those wings.
The daughter of a woman born into slavery, Bessie answers the call of the Great Migration. She moves to Chicago, where she wins the backing of two wealthy, powerful Black men—Robert Abbott, creator and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, the founder of Chicago’s first Black bank. Abbott becomes her mentor, while Binga becomes her lover. Her true first love, though, remains flying.
But in 1920, no one in the United States will train a Black woman to fly. So, twenty-eight-year-old Bessie learns to speak French and sets off for Europe. Two years ahead of Amelia Earhart, Bessie earns her pilot's license, and later she learns death-defying stunts from French and German dogfighting combat pilots.
While she finds no prejudice in the air, Bessie wrestles with other challenges on the ground. A plane crash nearly kills her, her brothers seem to be crumbling under the weight of Jim Crow, and, while grappling with tough truths about Binga, Bessie begins to wonder if the freedom she finds in the sky means she must otherwise fly solo.
With tenderness and mastery, Carole Hopson imagines the breathtaking moxie Bessie Coleman harnessed in order to lift herself out of poverty and become known as “Queen Bess.”
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.
©2024 Carole Hopson (P)2024 Macmillan AudioCritic reviews
Named one of Essence's “Top 15 Book Picks For Summer 2024
“Hopson shines a welcome light on her indomitable and unsung heroine, and her technical knowledge enriches the many exhilarating aerial scenes.”—Publishers Weekly
“Hopson, a United Airlines captain, vividly evokes the experience of flight and does a commendable job illuminating Coleman’s struggles with self-doubt and isolation even as she becomes a media sensation. . . . Fans of women-focused and African American historical fiction will appreciate Hopson's meticulously researched take on the life of a pioneering figure in aviation history.”—Booklist
“Invigorating! A Pair of Wings is the inspiring, richly detailed American Great Migration story we’ve been missing. Carole Hopson writes heroine and pioneer Bessie Coleman as if she’s been living inside her head. I loved it.”—Crystal Smith Paul, author of Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
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Sweeping yet intimate, Flight of the Wild Swan tells the story of Florence Nightingale, a brilliant, trailblazing woman whose humanity has been obscured beneath the iconic weight of legend. From adolescence, Nightingale was determined to fulfill her life's calling to serve the sick and suffering. Overcoming Victorian hierarchies, familial expectations, patriarchal resistance, and her own illness, she used her hard-won acclaim as a battlefield nurse to bring the profession out of its shadowy, disreputable status and elevate nursing to a skilled practice and compassionate art.
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Fantastic story
- By Patricia on 05-14-24
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Peggy
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca Godfrey, Leslie Jamison
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman, Leslie Jamison
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Venice, 1958. Peggy Guggenheim, heiress and now legendary art collector, sits in the sun at her white marble palazzo on the Grand Canal. She’s in a reflective mood, thinking back on her thrilling, tragic, nearly impossible journey from her sheltered, old-fashioned family in New York to here: iconoclast and independent woman. Rebecca Godfrey’s Peggy is a blazingly fresh interpretation of a woman who defies every expectation to become an original. The daughter of two Jewish dynasties, Peggy finds her cloistered life turned upside down at fourteen, when her beloved father perishes on the Titanic.
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I never knew
- By lorraine kennedy on 10-04-24
By: Rebecca Godfrey, and others
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The Naturalist's Daughter
- By: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Corinne Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Rose Winton wants nothing more than to work with her father, eminent naturalist Charles Winton, on his groundbreaking study of the platypus. Not only does she love him with all her heart, but the discoveries they have made could turn the scientific world on its head. When Charles is unable to make the long sea journey to present his findings to the prestigious Royal Society in England, Rose must venture forth in his stead. What she discovers there will change the lives of future generations.
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Copper’s best one yet
- By Corrie Coldwell on 08-28-24
By: Tea Cooper
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The Third Wife of Faraday House
- A Novel
- By: B.R. Myers
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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November 1816: Restless but naive Emeline Fitzpatrick is desperate to escape her stifling life in foggy Halifax. Her guardian is lining up repugnant suitors, but Emeline has her eyes set on a lieutenant in the British Navy. She just needs to persuade him to propose, or her one chance at happiness will be gone forever. But when Emeline’s hopes end in scandal, she finds herself with only one suitor left: the wealthy and enigmatic Captain Graves. Having already lost two wives to tragic circumstances, the widower is seeking a new companion in his cloistered seaside manor, Faraday House.
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Unpredictable, outstanding gothic tale
- By Laura on 08-26-24
By: B.R. Myers
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Not Your China Doll
- The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
- By: Katie Gee Salisbury
- Narrated by: Caroline McLaughlin, Katie Gee Salisbury
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Before Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest. Not Your China Doll showcases the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist.
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Beautiful & worthwhile read
- By Rebecca Lee on 03-18-24
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A Season of Perfect Happiness
- A Novel
- By: Maribeth Fischer
- Narrated by: Beth Hicks
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Ten years after an unspeakable tragedy caused Claire to flee her hometown in Delaware, she finally feels content. She has a quiet, tidy life in Wisconsin, a place she picked at random for its shape on a map. Her careful existence centers on a simple plan: keep her social circle small and keep the past a secret. But when she meets Erik—a lighthearted theater nerd who gives Claire more of a chance than she’s given herself in a long time—that plan seems increasingly impossible.
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Couldn’t put it down!
- By Lawrence S. Weigand on 11-19-24
By: Maribeth Fischer
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Our Narrow Hiding Places
- A Novel
- By: Kristopher Jansma
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Eighty-year-old Mieke Geborn’s life is one of quiet routine. Widowed for many years, she enjoys the view from her home on the New Jersey shore, visits with friends, and tai chi at the local retirement community. But when her beloved grandson, Will, and his wife, Teru, show up for a visit, things are soon upended. Their marriage is threatening to unravel, and Will has questions for his grandmother—questions about family secrets that have been lost for decades and are now finally rising to the surface.
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Imagination +History
- By lana on 09-08-24
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In a League of Her Own
- A Novel
- By: Kaia Alderson
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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An ambitious Harlem woman’s husband upends her social climbing when he buys a Negro Leagues baseball team and appoints her as the team’s business manager. Overnight, Effa Manley goes from 125th Street’s civil rights champion to an interloper in the boys’ club that is professional baseball.
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Such an interesting story!
- By Carolyn Hector Hall on 08-13-24
By: Kaia Alderson
What listeners say about A Pair of Wings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Simeon Haynes
- 10-04-24
great book
you don't know what you don't know! love this book. as a black man I love it
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- Anonymous User
- 09-05-24
Inspiring story
Although I did not care for the way the prologue was written or the linear approach to telling this story by Ms Hopson, the story is one of the most inspirational I have listened to in a long, long time. Ms. Coleman was decades ahead of her time. Her courage, perseverance, and belief in herself, was beyond reproach. This story should serve as an inspiration to all women, black and white, and should be told in every classroom across America.
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- Dana Rich
- 08-28-24
The magnificent production narration and story truly magnificent fantastic left my spirit flying high
I liked that the story, the production the narration led me to soaring of heights. I grew up in the backseat of an airplane and have Experience the joy of flight, but as Betsy Coleman must have.
Thank you for letting my spirits soar along with the beautiful narration and wonderful production
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- Monica Grace
- 11-17-24
5 Stars
The Black history lessons woven into Bessie Coleman's stories were absolutely mesmerizing. I started listening as soon as it became available on audible, I couldn't wait to pair my air buds and dive in. The timing was perfect - I was getting on a 6-hour plane ride and zipped through the book in just three days, seizing every moment to listen hang with Bessie. Some parts got pretty technical and mechanical, but they were full of important lessons. The quotes from Bessie's parents hit home, reminding me of my own Southern grandmother, who always dropped wisdom as smoothly as water.
Huge thanks to Carole Hopson for bringing Bessie Coleman's story to life. Hopson’s storytelling, combined with the narration of Alaksa Jackson, made for some of the best storytelling I’ve encountered. Even knowing Bessie's fate, I was so engrossed in the story and the perfect storytelling that I hoped it would end differently. This book is not just educational and inspiring; it’s a vital piece of Black history. Honestly, I felt like I was hanging out with Bessie, and I already miss her. This is a must-read. I can't wait for a reread! What an adventure.
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