Wingwalkers

A Novel

By: Taylor Brown

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

A former WWI ace pilot and his wingwalker wife barnstorm across Depression-era America, performing acts of aerial daring.

“They were over Georgia somewhere, another nameless hamlet whose dusty streets lay flocked and trembling with the pink handbills they’d rained from the sky that morning, the ones that announced the coming of Della the Daring Devilette, who would defy the heavens, shining like a daytime star, a wing-walking wonder borne upon the wings of Captain Zeno Marigold, a double ace of the Great War, who had 11 aerial victories over the trenches of France.”

Wingwalkers is one-part epic adventure, one-part love story, and, as is the signature for critically acclaimed author Taylor Brown, one large part American history. The novel braids the adventures of Della and Zeno Marigold, a vagabond couple that funds their journey to the West Coast in the middle of the Great Depression by performing death-defying aerial stunts from town to town, together with the life of the author (and thwarted fighter pilot) William Faulkner, whom the couple ultimately inspires during a dramatic air show—with unexpected consequences for all.

Brown has taken a tantalizing tidbit from Faulkner’s real life—an evening’s chance encounter with two daredevils in New Orleans—and set it aloft in this fabulous novel. With scintillating prose and an action-packed plot, he has captured the true essence of a bygone era and shed a new light on the heart and motivations of one of America’s greatest authors.

©2022 Taylor Brown (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

"Braids Together"

The description for this book says it braids together the main story with the exhaustive (and exhausting) fictionalized biography of William Faulkner. A more accurate description would be to say it's two completely different novels smashed into each other. The first, main story is great. It's why I spent the credit. I couldn't have cared less about Faulkner. So I found it incredibly irritating for the book to hit the brakes on every other chapter to tell a completely unrelated story. I didn't care about Faulkner before, and I kind of hate him now. I didn't care an iota about his story, and every page/minute spent on him was a distraction from the story I showed up to read.

I didn't hate it. But it was two shorter books with the chapters sewn together, and both suffered from it.

loved the story featuring William Faulkner

Wingwalkers by Taylor Brown tells two stories. The first one is about a fictional, former ace pilot, Zeno, and his stunt performing wife, Della, who is a wingwalker. They are barnstormers, performing in the American South during the Depression. The second story centers itself on William (Billy) Faulkner, the brilliant author. It focuses on his childhood and young adulthood, and on his own love of flight. The author tells the story of Faulkner's life from 1908 through 1934. This covers his life from age 11 until a point when he is writing, but has not yet published his most well known works.

The author's writing is simple and lovely. I was able to picture everything well. And, his history of Faulkner is mostly accurate, which I appreciated. Ive seen other reviewers say that they were more invested in the Zeno and Della storyline, but I was far more interested in the Faulkner storyline, as I am a big fan of his works, and loved the glimpses into the boy and then man, who became this world renowned author.

Cut Zeno & Della and Faulkner Brothers Aviation Would Be a Good Book

The Faulkner, with the added “U” parts were the only thing that kept me interested. The narrator does a fantastic job, but the material isn’t always interesting.

I had such high hopes for it, since the premise sounded fascinating. However, I quickly tired of Zeno & Della. They were not interesting or fully engaging characters at all. And I was appalled that they didn’t meet Faulkner until the very end. Especially since their stories didn’t interact or intersect at all through the entire book. This made the reading very disjointed. If this book had been only about Faulkner and his brothers fascination with aviation it would have been a far better book.