Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

Her aircraft has also been flown honorably in your service by my brother, Teodros. You used to let her land on your airfield in Akaki near the capital. Who works in your progressive clinic there. You know our mother, the photographer and flier Rhoda Drummond Menotti, We have not met you, but we saw you just before your coronation and again when you landed for a few minutes at Tazma Meda. I am writing to you (politely, I hope) to beg you to forgive my brother, Teodros Gedeyon, for the bond he owes your servant Ras Amde Worku and to grant him an Ethiopian Humble greetings to Your Most Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia! I am here at Lake Ashenge, north of Korem, and the emperor is in the hills above the town. I think I pretty much burned that bridge when I stole a plane from the Italian air force.

It is a waste of time trying to pass Teo off as Italian. What about the French? Momma was still friendly with Pierre Ferrand and those Imperial Ethiopian Air Force pilots last time we were in Addis Ababa. I don’t know anything that’s happened in the past four months, except what I’ve seen from the air. Legations have not got all the powers of embassies, and I don’t know if they are even running anymore, since the invasion and the shooting started. But Momma couldn’t even sweet-talk the Americans in our own legation, and of course the British probably can’t do aĭoggone thing for Teo even if they want to. I wonder if I could sweet-talk someone at the British Legation. Myself at them in disguise as Helpless Young American Girl All Alone. I have thought about trying to get him a British passport-Colonel Sinclair has friends who have not left Ethiopia. I think Momma’s hoard of Maria Theresa dollars is enough to pay for the travel. There must be some way I can get Teo out safely.

In the tradition of her award-winning and bestselling Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein brings us another thrilling and deeply affecting novel that explores the bonds of friendship, the resilience of young pilots, and the strength of the human spirit. Will their devotion to their country, its culture and people, and each other be their downfall or their salvation? But that peace is shattered by the threat of war with Italy, and teenage Em and Teo are drawn into the conflict. Seeking a home where her children won't be held back by ethnicity or gender, Rhoda brings Em and Teo to Ethiopia, and all three fall in love with the beautiful, peaceful country. But in 1930s America, a white woman raising a black adoptive son alongside a white daughter is too often seen as a threat. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived, determined to raise Teo according to his late mother's wishes-in a place where he won't be discriminated against because of the color of his skin. Don’t miss Elizabeth Wein’s stunning new novel, StatelessĮmilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying.

Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein