Dakar. Karachi. Singapore. The shark-infested waters beyond Lae, New Guinea. Breathe the Sky is the first novel to explore the dangerous, madcap course of Amelia Earhart’s last voyage. At the apex of her career, when the 39-year-old aviatrix decided to fly around the world and set one final record, few could understand why. Even her husband, George Putnam, heir to the media and publishing empire, warned her not to go. Yet she was resolute in her decision. She would circumnavigate the globe at its widest point, the equatorial line, or die trying.
Meticulously researched and vetted by a veteran pilot, Breathe the Sky fills in the gaps that biography and history have not. It fleshes out the pilot at her most pivotal moment. It brings her to life once more, securing her place in the pantheon of great explorers, while inspiring risk and adventure in its readers.
Praise for Breathe the Sky
“Chandra Prasad's Breathe the Sky brings us into Earhart's cockpit and her psyche, and from this unique and intimate perspective, we experience the dips and rises, the triumphs and turbulence of an intrepid but flawed American icon. The book is, by turns, an adventure story, a love story, and a cautionary tale about the double-edged sword of modern American celebrity. From lift-off to landing, Breathe the Sky is a novel that soars.”
-Wally Lamb, author of The Hour I First Believed
“A powerful, tragic, compelling story, an absolute page-turner by a skilled writer in full command of her characters, her tale, and a fascinating period of history.”
-Stephen L. Carter, author of Palace Council
“Breathe the Sky vividly reimagines the private life of Amelia Earhart, contrasting the careful construction of her public persona with the sloppy preparation for her around-the-world flight and its tragic consequences.
Chandra Prasad replaces the romance of the legend with this litany of all-too-human mistakes."
-Stewart O'Nan, author of Songs for the Missing
“Breathe the Sky does what historical fiction should do, but so rarely does. Chandra Prasad has built a first-rate time-machine that effortlessly transports us back to the early twentieth-century to view the world through Amelia Earhart’s eyes.”
-Debby Applegate, Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography