Thank you Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

This was such a fascinating historical fiction, detailing the life of Bessie Coleman. She was a Black female aviator and the first ever American (of any race or gender) to achieve the international aviation certification she earned. But the reason for such an international certification was that no one would train her in the United States, so she had to travel to Europe to learn to fly.

I found this incredibly powerful. It wove together her career and personal life beautifully. I would have enjoyed even more details at the conclusion about her life and which aspects were fictional.

Alaska Jackson was a fabulous narrator. She conveyed an incredible array of accents, as Bessie traveled to multiple countries and met many different aviators.

I didn't love this. It read more like a nonfiction/memoir than a historical fiction novel. I found it really heavy on details that I don't think mattered much to the overall story.

A Pair of Wings was a different pick for me because with historical fiction I usually go back to the times of kings and castles and courtly intrigue and tend to avoid American history, but something drew me to this book! Bessie Coleman was essentially a footnote in my history classes in school and was often overshadowed by Amelia Earhart, and I’m sure it’s because Amelia was white and Bessie was Black, despite Bessie being older and being granted an FAI license first.

Reading about Bessie’s life not only taught me about her experience becoming a female pioneer in aviation, but also painted such a clear picture of Black life in America in the early 1900s as the author, in Bessie’s voice, would give historical context, often going into exposition on other Black pioneers and activists, and I really appreciated that aspect of the storytelling! The book is mostly written in first person POV with Bessie stating she was given pages to write her story while she healed from a terrible crash, so I liked that it felt like a conversation with Bessie herself.

In her short life, Bessie worked so hard to achieve her dreams, never once accepting defeat or giving in to despair and what she accomplished was truly impressive! Her story was so inspiring, and not just for aviators, but honestly for anyone with dreams, goals, and the passion to succeed!

The end of this five star book absolutely wrecked me because that was not something I remembered from the little I knew about her, and I appreciate that the author gave an Afterward about her own life and experiences—Hopson hadn’t even heard of Bessie Coleman until she had begun pilot school and a friend gave her a book about Coleman! Hopson founded an organization dedicated to sending one hundred Black women to flight school by the year 2035!

P.S. I really enjoyed the narrator’s ability to do various accents!

This historical fiction book is about the pioneer Black woman aviatrix, Bessie Coleman, who was a certified flier years before Amelia Earhart. Her mother was born a slave and Bessie went from picking cotton, to working in a barbershop, to learning French and heading to France to become a pilot (because no where in America would teach a Black woman).

I loved the uniqueness of the story, her perseverance, insights on racism and sexism, grit, and that it was based on such an incredible real woman from history!

🌶️ There is a pretty steamy closed door scene, that is quite uncommon for HisFic books, so I want to warn those of you who want to skip it.

The audiobook 🎧 narrated by Alaska was fantastic!! Not only is her southern drawl perfect for the story, but she did an amazing job with the French and German accents!

I'm not a huge historical fiction or history or biography reader typically, but I'm SO glad I requested this audiobook from my MacMillan Audio pals because I fell completely in love with Bessie Coleman! I was worried at first because I didn't vibe with the very start — likely because I wasn't 100% focused while listening. But within an hour or two of starting, I was invested. Hearing Bessie's story in this first-person narrative format was the perfect way to learn about her incredible life. Narrator Alaska Jackson did a beautiful job with this novel — shoutouts to her accent work! The epilogue/afterword hit me like a truck, and hearing Hopson's own story brought the novel full-circle.

I really enjoyed both the story and the narration of this audiobook! I adore historical biographies, especially about women I've never heard of, and this one delivered! I will probably be selecting it for my historical fiction book club within the next few months!

From the very first page I knew I would love this one. The way CH vividly told the story of aviatrix Bessie Coleman made me feel as though I was there watching Bessie fly the airplane. Seeing the cockpit, the sky, and having the rush of doing something she loved! I was able to feel her love of airplanes and flying through the words on the page! While I did have some background on Bessie Coleman being an African American aviatrix flying an airplane, it was interesting following her story of how she got there.

This story told as well as showed how Bessie Coleman did not let anything or anyone stop or get in the way of her dream of flying. She also wanted to show other Black people that they can, too, fly planes. This showed her determination and drive. So much so, it talked about a time where she walked 9km (5.6m) to get to flight school on a badly sprained ankle. We also get a glimpse of her romantic stories along the way.

This historical fiction was amazing to say the least. I would highly recommend the audiobook to get the vivid pictures of Bessie’s story told by Carole Hopson just as I did!

What a fascinating story about Bessie Coleman. All Bessie has wanted to do is fly but being a black woman in the 1920’s finding someone to train her is the most difficult. Bessie finds a program in France and heads there to learn how to fly. I loved how many obstacles Bessie had to overcome. Learning about Bessie Coleman was the best part of the book. I love when books silently or not so silently encourage me to research further. I listened to the audiobook version of this story and the narrator was absolutely fantastic! What a wonderful choice of narrator. I love historical fiction and this one I recommend.

This story takes the reader along the journey of Bessie Coleman from her first glance of an airplane in Texas to the crash that almost ended her life. I was fascinated by the determination she had to make her way, especially since 1920 U.S. was not friendly to women pilots, much less a Black woman. Her journey to France and the willingness of an instructor there was quite interesting to me. This also tells of Bessie's sacrifices to pursue this dream above all others.

This is rich in historical and airplane detail, making it a great read for fans of specifics. I will admit that it got a bit much for me, but I was able to listen to the audio from @macmillan.audio via @netgalley which made those sections go by quickly. Alaska Jackson narrated this well, incorporating all the angst Bessie must have felt. I was definitely rooting for her throughout and was glad to have heard her story.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you Henry Holt for the #gifted ARC and thank you Macmillan Audio for the #gifted listening copy of A Pair of Wings! #MacAudio2024 #henryholt #henryholtbooks #APairOfWings #CaroleHopson

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐨𝐧
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

This was such an interesting historical fiction novel and I’m so glad I read it and learned more about such an important historical figure. A Pair of Wings provides such an insightful look at the life of Bessie Coleman, and while this is a historical fiction novel, you know you are still getting such great biographical content and I loved learning more about Bessie’s life. This book is a must read for anyone who loves history and aviation and I am so disappointed that I am just now learning about Bessie Coleman. I thought the book was very well done, but my only criticism is that at times it felt a little drawn out.

🎧I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Alaska Jackson. I absolutely LOVED listening to Jackson narrate this audiobook. I found her to be truly remarkable and I just could not get enough! I highly recommend this one on audio! The physical book does contain some photographs so it was nice to pair the physical and the audio together.

I have not heard of Bessie Coleman before listening to this story and its sad because her accomplishment is significant in so many ways. A Pair of Wings is based on Bessie's life so it is not a biography but it captures some significant points in her life and career. Overall, this was a wonderful story. If you are interested in aviation and following the story of a woman who was determined to achieve her dream regardless of the racism and prejudice that was in her path this is the perfect read.

The audio narration was wonderful. I think the narrator did a great job of bringing the story to life.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Carole Hopson, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is Alaska Jackson. Alaska did an exceptional job as this book took place in France, Germany, the North and the South with each resulting accent. This had the function of placing the narration in the background to the story being told. It was a very successful choice for this novel.

This was really, really good. Significantly better than I was expecting and I had fairly high expectations. I was an adult when I found out about Bessie Coleman. I grew up learning about Ms. Earhart but not a peep about Ms. Coleman. So as an adult I was amazed that she managed to go all of the way to Paris for flight training. I honestly assumed she was from an at least moderately wealthy and well connected Black family. I was shocked to discover she was raised as a share cropper and her mom was single head of household at least part of her growing up life. I've been hungry for a quality historical fiction novel about her life ever since.
I have to say this novel was well worth the wait.
The novel starts with Bessie in the air and then flashes back to her move to Chicago from Texas before her flight training in France. This covers her meeting with the men who helped her to arrange her training in France as well as helped fund her travels. This covers her training in Europe and her struggles to establish herself back in the US after her successful training.
Bessie emerges from this story as a breathing, laughing, flesh and blood woman. The skills of this author are superb. I know nothing about aviation nor am I particularly interested in it but I was riveted to the details in this story.
In a way it reminded me of when I read Pillars of the Earth because I equally don't care about church building. However in both novels the information is offered in such interesting ways and tied to such beloved characters, I know it'll live in my memory a surprising amount of time.
I hope this author writes more historical fiction. This was phenomenal.

Thank you to Carole Hopson, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of this audiobook.

I knew about Bessie Coleman before listening to this audiobook, but did not know the details of her life. I loved learning about her life and career and like any great historical fiction book, it made me research her and learn more about this fascinating character. The book did a great job of not only relaying the facts of her life, but also of giving the reader a feeling for her as a person and all that she went through being a black women, trying to breakthrough the white male dominated world of aviation. The narrator did a wonderful job conveying the character of Bessie and helping me to relate to all that she was going through. At times, I felt that the history of the time and details of aviation bogged the story down a bit, but I would still highly recommend the book to lovers of historical fiction and strong female characters.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the chance to listen to this story!

I’ve always known about Bessie Coleman being the first Black female to hold a pilots license but this story gave me way more background on her story than I’ve known.

I will say that there were more parts of the story that I enjoyed more than others— the beginning starts off very interesting. It opens up in 1923 after Bessie is in an accident then back in 1915 with Bessie moving in with her brothers while she tries to find a way to take flying lessons. She then gets into a romantic relationship, which was another favorite part of the whole story, and we navigate how complicated that love story turns out to be. There were some moments where the story read a little dry because of the historical content that was quite informative but it still didn’t take away too much from my interest in reading about this amazing female pioneer!

Her character and her resilience is an inspiration to living out your dreams no matter what society says about whether you can or can’t do something!

Read if you love:
✈️ historical fiction
✈️ women pioneers
✈️ biographical fiction
✈️ informative stories

This is a fascinating account of the pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black women that learned to fly at the dawn of aviation. Unable to find anyone to teach her to fly in the United States, she obtains funding, learned French and traveled to France to learn to fly.

The story accounts Bessie’s experience and passion for flying as well as the prejudice and challenges she faced as a black woman along her journey. I found her story, especially her training and flight experience and her mentors and supporters along the way, riveting. Unfortunately at times this read more like a biography rather than historical fiction. I would have loved to gotten deeper into to her character and challenges learning to fly and her relationships with her mentors, thus filling the holes with what might have been. Overall a fascinating story of a pioneering courageous woman who fought for more than just the ability to fly and became a true inspiration.

A Pair of Wings
Carole Hopson
Narrated by Alaska Jackson
Macmillian Audio
August 20, 2024

This amazing historical fiction is about a pioneer in aviation, Bessie Coleman. She was the first black woman to get an International Civilian pilots license.

In the early 1990s, Bessie was denied entrance to the American flight schools, so she learned French, traveled from Chicago to France, and was welcomed into one of France's most prestigious schools She received her license in June of 1921.
Her dream was to inspire children of color to want to fly.

I loved the history of Bessie's life and learning about the cultural, economical and racial obstacles she had to overcome. She was a remarkable, fearless, and determined young woman who should be part of our schools black history curriculum.

I especially enjoyed the mention of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Mary Bethune, and Ida B Wells, which sent me down a rabbit hole of research.

However, this being a historical fiction, I wasn't expecting the graphic sex scenes, and I didn't appreciate not being warned. I honestly feel they were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story.

Aside from that, the book is an inspirational and rich
Story which all history fans will appreciate.

Thank you to netgally and Macmillian Audio for my #giftedcopy. My review was voluntary .

4 Stars

I had never hear of Bessie Coleman before I read this book. Carole Hopson did a wonderful job of introducing me to a woman who should be an important part of American history. Yes, she took some liberties with the story, but that is to be expected in historical fiction. This book was beautifully written in a way that will hopefully inspire young woman to show that they too can continue to be just as good as men in any field. AND it made me way to research more about Bessie Coleman.

My only criticism is that the sex scenes in the beginning section of the book seemed unnecessary. But they can be skipped without any negative impact to the story.

I look forward to reading more by Carole Hopson if she chooses to write more books.

Incredible story about a pioneer in aviation. Bessie Coleman lead a fascinating life. I enjoyed the parts about her life in Waxahachie, TX as I have been there. A free spirit and a fire in her made her the first African american to hold a pilots license.

This book was equally amazing as it was heartbreaking. I love A historical fiction book that gives you everything you want and more. Beautifully written.

I was really excited to read A Pair of Wings by Carole Hobson, especially because Bessie Coleman is a hero to my daughter. My daughter admires Coleman so much that she even petitioned Piccolina to feature her in their trailblazer collection. I hoped this book would be a great way for her to learn more about her idol.

Unfortunately, I found the book quite disappointing. The excessive and unnecessary foul language, along with a scene that describes Bessie Coleman in an inappropriate manner, feels completely out of place in a biography of such an inspiring figure. This content makes the book unsuitable for my daughter, which is a major letdown.

Moreover, the book often reads like a disjointed collection of newspaper clippings from The Defender rather than a well-crafted biography. It delves into irrelevant details, such as the porters and the White Sox, which don’t contribute meaningfully to Bessie Coleman’s story. I was also surprised and disappointed by the omission of her time at Langston University in Oklahoma, with the narrative jumping from her life in Texas straight to Chicago.

Overall, A Pair of Wings did not meet my expectations and, unfortunately, does not effectively honor the legacy of Bessie Coleman.