On the Wings of Heroes

I just finished Richard Peck’s On the Wings of Heroes and loved it. I wasn’t sure I would at first. I love historical fiction, but when I started this book, I was afraid it would be one of those “wasn’t life better and more charming back in the day” author memoirs thinly disguised as fiction. I shouldn’t have worried. Richard Peck is too good a writer for that. I’ve loved his recent books, including A Long Way From Chicago, A Year Down Yonder, and Fair Weather.

On the Wings of Heroes is the ambling and episodic tale of Davy Bowen, a boy coming of age during WWII. The episodes are held together by the over-arching question of whether Davy’s older brother, Bill, a pilot flying missions from England, will survive and return home. The story is sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes both.

Which is my very favorite kind of story.