The Infinite Air: Jean Batten   27 Jun 2016

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The author: Dame Fiona Kidman (photo credit: Nelly Gillet)

The Infinite Air: new book about Jean Batten celebrates NZ aviator's life

** WIN one of two copies of the novel - visit our Competitions page for more details **

JEAN BATTEN was born in New Zealand in 1909, one of three children. Raised in relative poverty, Jean was a gifted scholar, dancer and pianist, but it was her mother Nellie’s prophetic placement of a newspaper cutting above her cot celebrating Blériot’s flight across the English Channel that held her fate. Defying her father, Jean set her sights on flying. Uncompromising and driven, Jean sought out the legendary aviator Charles Kingsford Smith for advice before selling her piano to fund a trip to London and enrolment at the London Aeroplane Club. Based at Stag Lane, the Club was aerial base to the world’s most illustrious pilots including Amy Johnson. Her ambitions were set. Jean didn’t just want to fly; she wanted to be the best and nothing – and nobody – would stop her.

 JEAN BATTEN’S AVIATION RECORDS:

• In 1934, Jean broke Amy Johnson’s record solo flight time from England to Australia by six days, flying a Gipsy Moth plane formerly owned by the Prince of Wales.
• In 1935, she became the first woman to make the return flight from Australia to England.
• The same year (1935) she set a world record flight time from England to Brazil and became the first woman to make the England-South America flight.
• In 1936, she became the first person to make a direct flight between England and New Zealand and set a world record for the fastest ever trans-Tasman flight.
• In 1937, she set another world record flight time from Australia to England becoming the first person to hold both England to Australia and Australia to England records.

 Bold and beautiful, JEAN BATTEN’S name became synonymous with adventure, daring, exploration and glamour. Fêted by royalty, prime ministers and fellow aviators alike – including her hero Blériot –she received numerous honours, including Commander of the British Empire and the Cross of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour. Nicknamed the ‘Garbo of the Skies’ and known for her trademark elegant white outfits as well as her flying prowess, Jean’s fame was beyond compare.

 However, the outbreak of WWII changed everything. After an ill-timed flight over Germany, Jean’s sympathies were seen as suspect. Her flying career was over. A troubled and reclusive figure, she sought sanctuary and peace in Jamaica, befriending Ian Fleming, almost certainly her lover, and Noël Coward. After Ian married she left Jamaica for Europe once again and, after Nellie’s death in Tenerife in 1966, briefly re-emerged into public life, returning to New Zealand one last time. She finally settled in Majorca where she died in obscurity in 1982 after she was bitten by a dog whilst out walking. She was buried in a paupers’ grave.

 Bestselling novelist Fiona Kidman’s enthralling novelisation provides a compelling insight into the tragic and inspiring life of the brave and uncompromising JEAN BATTEN.

 ‘One of our most noted writers, Fiona Kidman, has turned to one of our most interesting and enigmatic historical figures ... Wonderful.’ Radio New Zealand

 ‘We cannot talk about writing in New Zealand without acknowledging her’ New Zealand Books

 ‘What a character arc Jean Batten's life offers ... Kidman couldn't produce a poor paragraph if she tried to and this is a narrative that ... takes wing.’ New Zealand Herald

 ‘In her craft and her storytelling, and in her compassionate, gutsy, tough expression of female experience, she is the best we have.' New Zealand Listener

 Longlisted for the 2015 IMPAC Dublin Award

Dame Fiona Kidman OBE is the author of more than 30 books and is considered one of New Zealand’s greatest living novelists. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature in 1988, and was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 1998 New Year Honours.

‘THE GARBO OF THE SKIES’ 

The Rise & Fall of JEAN BATTEN 

THE INFINITE AIR

a novel by FIONA KIDMAN

Published by Aardvark Bureau on 6^th March 2016,

Price £9.99 in paperback original, £4.99 on eBook

Visit our Competitions page for your chance to win a copy

Lead image credit: National Library of New Zealand

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