Come Fly With Me by Camille Di Maio ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

It’s 1962, the dawn of the jet-set era. Hope takes flight for two Pan Am stewardesses navigating an adventurous new life in a novel about love, friendship, and escape.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2025; Lake Union; 978-1662523946
audio, ebook, print (347 pages); historical fiction

Welcome to a glamorous gateway to the jet age.

The 1960s were the Golden Age of air travel and Pan Am was considered the elite of the airlines - where flyers were pampered, fed fantastic meals, and treated like valued guests.  Many young women applied for jobs as airline stewardesses for the chance to fly to exotic places and live an exciting life.

We meet two very different women when they are applying for jobs at Pan Am.  Beverly comes from a rich family and is used to living the high life in upper society but she wants more out of life.  When she applies for a job as a stewardess, her father cuts her off from the family.  Judy lives in a small town in Pennsylvania and is trying to find a way to leave her abusive husband.  With the help of a friend, she sneaks away in the night to apply for the job.  Both women are accepted and become friends.  Judy has to keep her marriage a secret because married women are not allowed to become Pan Am stewardesses.  Beverly keeps her rich family a secret at first because she wants to be judged for herself not for her background.  The two women room together in training and make a list of places that they want to travel.  When they are both assigned to be stationed in California, their friendship grows stronger.  Despite their backgrounds being so different, the two women became good friends and encouraged each other when there were problems.  

This is a story about female friendships and about women encouraging other women in good and bad times. It's also a look at the comforts of flying (and if you've flown in the last few years, you know how much that has changed).  I really enjoyed reading about everything the women had to go through in training and was surprised at some of the rules that they had to follow once they became stewardesses - the perfect hairdo, the same color lipstick, and being weighed every month to name a few of the rules.

Be sure to read the Author's notes at the end of the book.  She describes the research she did to write the book including talking to women who worked as stewardesses back in the 60s.  She also discussed the fact that one of the most difficult parts of the novel was based on a true event.

I really enjoyed this book.  The author's writing was interesting and her two main characters were well-written and reflected the time period that they lived in.  I love reading books about the strength of women's friendships.  Once you finish with this book, you'll have Frank Sinatra's song "Come Fly with Me' lingering in your mind.

Buy Come Fly with Me at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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