I’m really excited to be revealing the cover of a new book today, one that has been in gestation since the 1990s, when a journalist told my father that he ought to write his stories of his life in Africa in a book.
“I thought about it for a while, and turned it over in my mind but decided I couldn’t possibly write a book…. What with all the writing and checking and tightening it finishes so hard and fast and rigid, it’s not a story at all; so I decided to do these tapes to get the record straight.”
That’s how he introduces his first tape, started in December 1995. I guess his last entry was about September 2004. The story wasn’t quite finished. His tale covers his early career with Imperial Airways, setting up the flying boat service in Africa, and the start of his wartime sojourn in Cairo, saying little about moving troops about and keeping the “horseshoe route” between South Africa and Australia flying, but a lot about manipulating a few rules to get to marry his fiancée, then stationed in Kampala, Uganda!
I’ve been working on the book since 2010, and for the last year I’ve been prevaricating, especially about the publishing route. But I always said I’d get it done before what would have been his 100th birthday in June 2015, so … here’s the cover.
White Water Landings
Views of the Imperial Airways Africa service from the ground
J M Pett with recollections by Geoffrey Pett
Published by Princelings Publications May 2015
- Hardback from Blurb, from Princelings Publications, from the book’s website, and from retailers worldwide.
- Paperback from Amazon and Createspace
- Ebook from all good online retailers; Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Apple etc.
More information coming soon!
It looks great Jemima! (y) 🙂
That should have been a thumbs up!
Thanks, Julie – I’ll take that as a thumbs up, too 🙂
It looks really interesting and I like the cover, too. Sounds like a really good project.
Cheers
MTM
Thanks, MT. I’ll be taking a leaf out of your book and taking some down to Diss, I think!
I hope they do well.
It looks a winner Jemima, I hope it is.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
Thanks, David!
Can’t wait to read this, and so glad you are getting it done.
That’s great to know. It’s one thing writing it, but of course it’s in an entirely new genre to promote, so knowing it’s of interest is great!
This is wonderful. I hope the book gets a great reception. We need to tell the stories of our parents.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
Thanks, Lee!
Congratulations, Jemima. You’ve done your father proud. I wish you great success with the book!
Thanks, Noelle!
You know, I’m looking at this, and Arlee’s comment…and thinking that I might need to return to my grandmother’s story. I’ve messed about with it for years, including turning it into a fictional children’s book. I’m not sure there’s enough recorded to write a biography, but I should get back to the story in some form.
If you think it doesn’t work on its own, and bearing in mind the discussion of factual books on GMGR, is there scope for a few people getting together for a series or anthology of “What our Grandmothers did” or some such?
This is wonderful. Neighbor Girl has to do a ten-page paper about one of her “oldest living relatives” and we have found it thrilling to learn little details about life that we never would have thought to learn about otherwise. Love the cover, Jemima! This looks like it will be a lovely summer read for me. ~Cool Mom