“The Aviator’s Wife” by Melanie Benjamin – A Historical Marriage

One can hardly find anyone who hasn’t at least heard the name of Charles Lindbergh mentioned in some kind of context. What exactly makes him so notable?

Well, in 1927 he flew all alone across the entire Atlantic Ocean, basically making history and pushing the boundaries of what we considered possible.

Not long after his flight, he encountered a young and spirited woman by the name of Anne Marrow, and soon they became married in a wedding that made all the newspapers. From that moment onwards, they both tremendously influenced each other’s lives, to the point where Anne Marrow actually became the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States.

However, her accomplishments were always overshadowed by Charles’, and it would seem that she was forever to be seen as his wife, rather then her own person. The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin is a rather factual historical fiction novel exploring the relationship between the two, from the first moment of their journey all the way to its end.

To be honest, though I do find Charles and Anne’s lives to be interesting on a basic level in terms of what they accomplished, I have never really felt any desire to learn more about them or invest myself in their history.

In The Aviator’s Wife the approach to the whole thing is actually a splendid mixture of facts and storytelling, in the sense that the two protagonists real-world lives were basically novelized.

This helps us to get closer to the characters, to try and understand them not only in terms of their achievements, but also in terms of who they were on the inside. Sure, Benjamin probably does jump to conclusions or romanticizes certain things, but it is for the entertainment of the reader and once all is said and done, it adds much more to the story than it takes away.

I was also rather surprised by the author’s propensity to focus on the various teachings and lessons which can be learned from the journey traveled by these two people. I sincerely expected it to be, at its core, a re-telling of historical facts made bearable for readers.

However, what we have here is more than that, offering profound reflections on topics we all know about, such as the everlasting struggle between love and independence, or the idea that life is infinitely flexible and there will never be a lack of opportunities to change things for the better.

Though I probably will end up forgetting most of this novel (after all, this isn’t exactly the kind of novel I prefer), I have to say that for now it stuck pretty well with me, and those of you out there looking for a more relaxed and introspective novel, as well as learn more about two of the most famous pilots in history, will probably enjoy this work a lot.

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Melanie Benjamin (Hauser) Personal site Melanie Benjamin is the pen name of Melanie Hauser, an American writer from Indianapolis. She has published numerous short stories in the In Posse Review and The Adirondack Review, and now she has taken to writing historical fiction. Alice I have Been is probably her most famous novel at this point, reaching the heights of an international bestseller upon its release.