Landing in My Present Book Blog Tour, #Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit

Posted July 21, 2020 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 8 Comments

LANDING IN MY PRESENT
by

Mary Clark

Biography / Aviation / Historical / WWII

Publisher: Hellgate Press
Date of Publication: June 15, 2020
Number of Pages: 218

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Mary Walker Clark barely knew her father. When he died, he left not only the obvious void every teen would experience, but took with him scores of Indiana Jones-style tales about flying the Hump, a treacherous series of US missions that transported supplies over the Himalayas to China during World War II. 
 
It would take a chance interview with a pilot who had flown with her father in the war to launch a series of extraordinary journeys—into a shrouded past and halfway around the globe to India and China—for Clark to finally come to know the father whose absence had haunted her for decades. 
 
Landing in My Present chronicles the adventures of a daughter who chose to pry open a painful past while enlarging her view of an adventurous father long thought lost.
 
 
 
 
 
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I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, especially biographies. (I read books to escape reality, not face it.) What drew me to this novel initially was the prospect of learning about the author’s travel to India and China. But really, what kept my attention was the emotional soul-searching that author Mary Walker Clark presents on her quest to learn more about her father and to shore up her fading memories of him.

 

I do want to be honest: I spent the first 30 pages of this novel pretty much weeping. Whether that was just me or not, I couldn’t say. My personal reaction stems from many of Ms. Clark’s life experiences paralleling my own. From my own father’s early death (I was in my 20s, not a teenager), to his military service (Vietnam, not WWII), to the emotional closed-offness of our families, I genuinely related to this novel. There are so many moments that stand out for me. Like:
  • Reviewing the contents of her father’s wallet, generating memories of my own father’s wallet and photos of me and my siblings that he carried with him.
  • The hospital visit after her father’s accident reminding me of my own last visit to see my father at the hospital.
  • Ms. Clark’s mother doing most of the parenting, as her father was often too busy with work to attend school or family functions. The same applies to my family.

I could go on with my list. But let’s move on to some actual reviewing!

The novel is a good balance between the history and fact finding of her father’s life and the actual travel portion of the story. We follow along with Ms. Clark as she reads letters to her father, interviews with other WWII pilots, and notes from other relatives and her siblings. Finding a trunk her father shipped home from Africa during the war with holiday menus and photos was a real gem. The postage was a bargain at $3.11!

I really enjoyed reading the fictitious letters from Ms. Clark’s father to his parents. The letters are presented in the novel as part WWII history and part personal stories. She weaves the historical with the personal details together brilliantly.

The travel portion of the novel is just as interesting as the historic portion. The differing reception that Ms. Clark and her travel companions receive in Indian versus China was captivating. From museums to airfields, the descriptions of the people and places kept me turning pages. As a planner, I would have enjoyed more details of the actual planning of the trip. We have barely a glimpse of what I can only imagine was some serious planning that went into such a trip.

The novel is peppered with funny anecdotes and personal photos. The story about Ms. Clark’s father pulling up to the family farm in his plane for lunch, jumping

“out of the plane like he was getting out of his pickup truck”

had me chuckling. Seeing the photos conjures up memories of sitting at the family table looking through old photo albums. Nothing like photos from the ’60s and ’70s to spark the memories of childhood!

I also learned some interesting tidbits while reading Landing in My Present. I had no idea that American pilots flew over the Himalayan mountains to help the Chinese during WWII. From the pilots like Ms. Clark’s father flying gasoline and other supplies over the mountains to the Flying Tigers bombing the Japanese, I was fascinated by the history being unfolded by Ms. Clark. There is also a casual mention of some seriously cool art by Roy Grinnell, showcasing what it looked like for the author’s father and his compatriots to fly over the Himalayan mountains. Just plain wow on that art! (I’m now going through Mr. Grinnell’s catalog on my own!)

 

Even now, reading back over my notes and highlights to write this review, I’m getting a bit verklempt. I don’t know if I would have picked this novel for myself, but I suppose I’m glad, in the end, that I did read it. The writing is emotional; the history is fascinating. Both made me introspective as a powerful novel will do. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll at least think about learning more about my own father and his military service.
(or 10 tissues to get through to the end!)
Thanks to author Mary Walker Clark and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing this opportunity to review Landing in My Present. I received the novel free in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

Mary Walker Clark is a retired attorney turned travel writer who loves taking readers with her to worldwide destinations. She has been traveling independently and internationally for over fifty years. Her essays may be found in the Paris News, at her blog, “Mary Clark, Traveler,” and her podcasts at KETR 88.9, an NPR affiliate. Clark is an award-winning member of the North American Travel Journalists Association and a contributor to Still Me, … After All These Years, 24 Writers Reflect on Aging. 
 
In 2016, Clark traveled to India and China to follow her father’s WWII footsteps when he was a Hump pilot flying over the Himalayas. Her journey to connect with him fifty years after his death is told in her book, Landing in My Present. 
Clark is a fifth generation Texan living in Paris, Texas.
 

 

Website ║ Facebook  ║ Blog

Instagram ║ Amazon Author Page 

————————————-

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

THREE WINNERS 

FIRST WINNER: $25 Amazon card 
SECOND WINNER: Signed copy of Landing in My Present
THIRD WINNER: $15 Amazon card.
 July 21-July 31, 2020

(US only)

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Posted July 21, 2020 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 8 Comments

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8 responses to “Landing in My Present Book Blog Tour, #Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit”

  2. Mary Walker Clark

    Thank you for such a lovely and thoughtful review. I’m honored that you liked a non-fiction book so well. I had always thought that the WWII part of the book would be the big draw but I’m finding in conversations and reviews like yours that it is the personal journey that resonates. There are many more of us than I imagined who have lost parents at an early age, lived with quiet fathers, or failed to explore the family history. When the time is right, I hope you will research your father’s war history. It’s like a treasure hunt with unexpected finds. Thank you again.

  3. Maryann

    I second Kristine’s comment. What a terrific review. As always, reading a bunch of reviews of the same book, I’m struck with how different readers react to the same story. In the end, I do believe it is what is in each person’s life experience, and heart, that connects with the author’s story in a personal way.

  4. Mary Walker Clark

    Thank you so much for the lovely and powerful review. I am discovering there are many of us who have lost fathers early, whose families didn’t talk and who don’t really know much about their parents’ history. I hope you are able to explore your family history sometime in the future – when you are ready. But don’t wait as long as I did.

    I wanted to tell you that the trip did indeed take a lot of planning. I was fortunate to find the agency in the Assam Valley. I had sent out a request on a bulletin board for a guide who might know something about the Allied presence there during the war. Our guide responded and he was instrumental in putting together the itinerary and hotels, etc. The cost was quite nominal. The guide in China we found online as being well respected and she was good. But it was the driver, “Happy Jack”, that was the wonderful surprise. Planning the flights was what almost did me in but my brother is a traveler, too, and between us, we found our way.

    Again, thank you for such a thoughtful review.

    • Lynn

      Thanks for stopping by, Mary. And I appreciate the update on the planning. I’m with you on the flights. That’s always the worst part of any trip I plan as well!

  5. Kristine Hall

    What a fabulous review — and I think it’s the highest compliment an author can get when a book evokes emotion, finds a reader connection, and makes one introspective. GREAT review to kick off the tour.