Airman
Airman
Synopsis
One dark night on the island of Great Saltee, fourteen-year-old Conor is framed for a terrible crime he didn’t commit. Thrown into prison by the dastardly Hugo Bonvilain, Conor is trapped in a seaswept dungeon and branded a traitor. He must escape and clear his name; he wants his old life back – his family, his friends . . . and his princess.
Conor knows there is only one way out. It’s an impossible task, which has never been done before. But Conor is determined to do it. He’ll have to fly.
Extract
Conor Broekhart was born to fly, or more accurately, he was born flying. Though Broekhart’s legend is littered with fantastical stories, the tale of his first flight in the summer of 1878 would be the most difficult to believe, had there not been thousands of witnesses. In fact, an account of his birth in a hot-air balloon can be read in the archives of the French newspaper, Le Petit Journal, available to all for a small fee at the Librarie Nationale.
Above the article, there is a faded black-and-white photograph. It is remarkably sharp for the period, and was taken by a newspaperman who happened to be in the Trocadéro gardens at the time with his camera.
Captain Declan Broekhart is easily recognizable in the picture, as is his wife, Catherine. He, handsome in his crimson-and-gold Saltee Island Sharpshooters uniform, she shaken but smiling. And there, protected in the crook of his father’s elbow, lies baby Conor. Already with a head of blond Broekhart hair and his mother’s wide, intelligent brow. No more than ten minutes old and through some trick of the light or photographic mishap, it seems as though Conor’s eyes are focussed. Impossible of course. But imagine if somehow they had been, then baby Conor’s first sight would have been a cloudless French sky flashing by. Little wonder he became what he became.
Extracts
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The Supernaturalist
Read extract -
Half Moon Investigations
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Artemis Fowl
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Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony
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Airman
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Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident
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Artemis Fowl and the Eternity code
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Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception
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A double trilogy
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Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three
And Another Thing, the 6th book in the Hitchhiker’s trilogy.
Find out more -
Mostly Harmless
The fifth, and the fifth oldest, of the Hitchhikers trilogy, published in 1992,
Find out more -
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
The fourth, and the fourth oldest, of the Hitchhikers trilogy, published in 1984,
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Life, the Universe and Everything
The third, and the third oldest, of the Hitchhikers trilogy, published in 1982,
Find out more -
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The second, and the second oldest, of the Hitchhikers trilogy, published in 1980,
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The original, and the oldest, of the Hitchhikers trilogy, published in 1979.
Find out more
