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Velva Jean Learns to Fly is named the September Read of the Month by the Southern Literary Review!
Booklist (starred review)
Velva Jean Hart is a heroine with grit, grace, determination, and enough humanity to hook readers with ferocious tenderness, making them want to find and befriend her. In this follow-up to Velva Jean Learns to Drive (2009), the artlessly intrepid protagonist follows her singing dreams to Nashville in her big yellow truck. Reality, in the form of the competitive music business and WWII, sharply arrests her ambitions, however, leading to an unexpected new horizon when she learns how to fly airplanes. Adventures await her, ranging from bonds between soul sisters to encounters with musical legends to matters of the heart to unconscionable acts of sabotage that threaten everything she holds dear. Velva Jean's growth arc arises from the simple yet elegantly powerful realizations that "life was too short to spend it trying to get a man to tell me how he felt about me" and that her "home was in the sky," where she could soar with "ceiling and visibility unlimited." Besides creating a gutsy heroine, who, despite the repressive times, never becomes bitter, Niven's writing shines overall. Cheers to Niven, Velva Jean, and the two further books of her remarkable story to come in 2012 and 2013.--Julie Trevelyan
James Earl Jones (Tony Award-winning, Emmy Award-winning actor)
"Although it is a good bet that Jennifer Niven does not write just to make me happy that I ever learned to read, she has made the pleasure of learning about the unexpected a real thrill. Having been tipped off by Velva Jean Learns to Drive that Velva Jean has a taste for flight, I enter her world now wondering not just about what she's in flight from, but what she's in flight to. And even those of us who have never driven an airplane know that the winds are always involved. Velva Jean Learns to Fly is a wonder and so is Velva Jean herself. Who would have thought that a young woman's adventures in World War II would capture my attention—and keep it? Velva Jean pulled me into her story and wouldn't let me go, from her comical and sometimes humiliating trip to Nashville, the city of her dreams, to the first time she grabs the throttle of a plane and soars. We see her get her wings and fly through wartime danger, intrigue, suspense, and even sabotage. This gripping, heartwarming action-adventure tale stays with you long after you turn the last page."
Susan Gregg Gilmore (Bestselling author of The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove and Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen)
"Jennifer Niven does it again as Velva Jean Hart takes to the sky! In this fun, fast-paced, heart-warming sequel to Velva Jean Learns to Drive, we follow the beloved young heroine from her mountain home to Nashville. But soon after Pearl Harbor is attacked, Velva Jean begins singing a new song - one full of patriotism, courage and feisty independence. The perfect read for any girl of any age who yearns to soar beyond her dreams."
Beth Hoffman (Bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt)
"An endearing portrait of a young woman with a big heart—Velva Jean Learns to Fly illuminates the power of going after a dream and the courage it takes to never let go."
Benjamin Percy (Award-winning author of The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh)
"For any who have ever chased a dream, for any who have ever risked it all, for any who have ever stumbled and risen and brushed the grit from their palms, for any who have ever grieved and mended, fallen in and out of love, wished to fly and then flown, there is Velva Jean, the fearless, wide-eyed, big-hearted heroine of Jennifer Niven's second novel, a sweeping adventure that takes the reader from the streets of Nashville to the belly of a WWII bomber."
Beth Grant (Award-winning actress: Rain Man, Little Miss Sunshine, No Country for Old Men, and The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife)
"God Bless Southern women, their dreams, energy, and courage. Jennifer Niven and her heroine Velva Jean have both in spades. I hope this book becomes a movie I can take my daughter to see."
Ann Howard Creel (Bestselling author of The Magic of Ordinary Days)
"Through a most endearing character, Niven speaks truly and poignantly of an extraordinary time in American history. Velva Jean's;s story delves into the contributions made by amazing women during World War II and tells a compassionate story about adventure, love and war. This is a wonderful book—very hard to put down."
Sherri L. Smith (Award-winning author of Flygirl)
"From the ballads of the Grand Ole Opry to the magnificent women of Avenger Field, Jennifer Niven spins a tall tale that is utterly heartfelt and rings true."
Nancy E. Turner (Award-winning author of The Water and the Blood and the Sarah Prine novels)
"As Velva Jean learns to fly, she develops believable skill and remarkable courage in every aspect of her life. Rich in real history, the settings are so true you feel you could open a door at Avenger Field and hear the locusts. An air of impending danger pervades the last half of the novel and makes putting this one down a near impossibility. A thoroughly enjoyable read. By the time the story was over, I was almost convinced Velva Jean might have been real."
Cassandra King (Bestselling author of The Same Sweet Girls)
"As soon as I devoured Velva Jean Learns to Fly, I immediately began spreading the word: this one is not to be missed!"
Jessica Leigh (Radio personality - WFMG G101.3 Richmond, IN)
"Velva Jean Hart has won my heart and become my favorite literary character. When I grow up I wanna be just like Velva Jean."
Publishers Weekly
Niven delivers another tale full of hope, heartbreak, and nostalgia in this sequel to Velva Jean Learns to Drive. Now in her twenties, at the dawn of World War II, heroine Velva Jean Hart leaves her husband and the comfort of her hometown in North Carolina to pursue her life-long dream of singing at the Grand Ole Opry. Once she arrives, she quickly learns that breaking into the music business is breaking her heart, but that doesn't stop our ingénue from sticking it out and singing the blues every chance she gets. Velva Jean's aspirations soon take a dramatic turn when her brother Johnny Clay introduces her to flying planes. Consumed with becoming a heroic female aviator, Velva Jean joins the WAFS, the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, part of the Army Air Forces, and experiences a wartime life filled with love, despair, and life-threatening adventures. A tasteful blend of comedy, inspiration, and endurance.
Library Journal
Fans of Velva Jean Learns To Drive, Niven's fictional debut, will welcome back the high-octane Velva Jean as she flees from her husband and North Carolina mountain home for Nashville. Hell-bent on recording her mountain ballads, Velva Jean gradually becomes disheartened as she struggles to break into the music business. Soon Pearl Harbor is attacked, and her brother Johnny Clay informs Velva Jean that he is joining the army. Before Johnny Clay leaves, he persuades Velva Jean to take flying lessons. The apprehensive Velva Jean is elated as she learns to pilot a plane. With the war interrupting her musical ambitions, she enlists as a female pilot trainee in Texas and launches a new career. On base, her tattered musical soul is revived when she reconnects with blues singer Butch Dawkins. Never believing in failure, Velva Jean surmounts dangerous obstacles facing female pilots in that male-dominated era, with her moxie eventually ruling the day.
Readers who enjoy Fannie Flagg and other down-home Southern writers will be entertained by this saucy adventure sprinkled with a gamut of human emotions.
ALTAFF (Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations)
This novel is based on the true history of the women who ferried planes across the country and across the Atlantic in WWII. The history is as fascinating as its heroine, who was way ahead of her time in finding her way in what was then the very heart of a man’s world.
Velva Jean Learns to Fly is the sequel to Velva Jean Learns to Drive. You don’t have to read the first to become completely engrossed with the second, but once you meet Velva Jean, you’re going to want to!
Southern Literary Review:
September Read of the Month, Velva Jean Learns to Fly by Jennifer Niven
Jennifer Niven won much praise and many readers with her first novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive. In that book, the focus is on Velva Jean’s teen years in Depression era Appalachia. In Learns to Fly, which takes us from 1941 through 1944, Velva Jean matures into an independent, sometimes headstrong, young woman in her early twenties.
With only a seventh grade education and only the dimmest glimmer of the world beyond the Fair Mountain community of her rearing, Velva Jean takes unexpected chances with mixed results. When her marriage to preacher Harley Bright falls apart, she drives her yellow truck to Nashville to follow the dream developed in the first novel – becoming a successful singer-songwriter.
The journey in the decrepit old truck is an experience in perseverance and improvisation. When Velva Jean reaches Nashville, she finds out that most doors are closed to her – even the door of the record producer who encouraged her back in North Carolina.
She wonders if her dream can be realized, works hard at various jobs, and makes one good friend. Nashville excites her. The Grand Old Opry is her shrine. However, she discovers another yearning that overwhelms and replaces her interest in the music business: she becomes determined to be an airplane pilot.
The fascination with and early pursuit of this goal depends largely upon an extended visit from her favorite brother, the adventurous Johnny Clay, who shares her enthusiasm and encourages her – as he has done since they were very young. Taking private lessons, she learns to fly a small, fragile, and antiquated aircraft. Johnny Clay is hooked on the idea of jumping out of planes.
When Velva Jean learns about Jacqueline Cochran’s WASP effort (Women Airforce Service Pilots), nothing will stop her from being accepted into this trailblazing program. Despite initial setbacks, Velva Jean succeeds. From this point on, Velva Jean Learns to Fly becomes a very special World War II novel, focusing, through Velva Jean’s eyes, on the contribution of women aviators to the allied effort.
Even after the initial selection process for WASP, competition continues through the myriad of training courses. In the chapters that treat training at Avenger Field outside of Sweetwater, Texas, we learn how Velva Jean handles the complex body of technical knowledge she must master. This includes becoming familiar with the particular handling characteristics of a wide array of military planes.
The WASP was created to allow women to fill noncombat aviation roles so that there would be enough male pilots available to fill combat needs. Not only did men resent the fact that women were entering a formerly all-male domain, but they also saw the women getting the “soft” jobs of ferrying planes around the country.
The resentment led to a series of incidents in which planes being flown by WASP pilots were sabotaged; several women were killed by their own countryman. Not only did the women have to deal with the general hazards of aviation, but also with the testing of untried aircraft and the threat of sabotaged planes. Often, when the women had the task of towing targets for fighter gunnery practice, their planes were riddled with bullets – on purpose.
Velva Jean survived the various stages of WASP attrition to receive recognition and high-profile assignments. Her WASP experience led her to make and lose friends, sometimes tragically. It also gave her an enhanced sense of herself as a woman who could select meaningful challenges and meet them. She did her part for her country, she exemplified the “new woman” who could challenge gender role conventions, and she saved up experiences that could later be transformed into song lyrics. The more she tested herself and the more she learned about herself, the richer her expressive power became.
In a coincidence just a bit too improbable, she finds herself thrown together with her old North Carolina songwriting pal, the mysterious bluesman Butch Dawkins. Butch is on the same Texas base assigned as a “code talker,” as were many Native Americans. Reuniting with Butch restores Velva Jean to her earlier aspiration. As the novel winds down, readers will wonder if there is a future for these two, whose relationship so far has been limited and guarded.
Jennifer Niven’s ongoing portrayal of this totally engaging young woman set within a stunning vision of the American South during WWII is a major achievement. The explorations of the Nashville music industry and the WASP initiative are rich in evocative detail. And Velva Jean’s and Butch’s songs are pretty good, too.
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Copyright © 2011 Jennifer Niven All Rights Reserved |
