PublishedAllen & Unwin, March 2017 |
ISBN9781760290771 |
FormatSoftcover, 376 pages |
Dimensions23.4cm × 15.6cm |
'Mrs Keith Miller, internationally known aviatrix, was taken to the county jail here today and held for investigation by State Attorney's investigators. Jail attendants said they understood she was held in connection with the shooting of an airline pilot.'
Petite, glamorous and beguiling, Jessie 'Chubbie' Miller was one remarkable woman ... flyer, thrill seeker, heartbreaker. No adventure was too wild for her, no danger too extreme. And all over the world men adored her.
When the young Jessie left suburban Melbourne and her newspaperman husband in 1927, little did she know that she'd become the first woman to complete an England to Australia flight (with a black silk gown thrown into her small flight bag, just in case), or fly the first air race for women with Amelia Earhart, or that she would disappear over the Florida Straits feared lost forever only to charm her way to a rescue. Nor could she have predicted that five years later she'd find herself at the centre of one of the most notorious and controversial murder trials in United States history. And this all began with something as ridiculously mundane as a pat of butter.
The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller is a spellbinding story of an extraordinary woman - an international celebrity during the golden age of aviation - and her passionate and spirited life.
Barb takes care of the web orders here at Boffins, and is your contact for book club enquiries. She spends all her spare time curled up on the couch reading and for the last several years has reviewed books on the Afternoon Program on ABC radio Perth.
What an amazing story this is. It's one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" tales. Jessie "Chubbie" Miller, an Australian housewife, travelled to London in the 1920s to escape a life she was bored with. There by chance she met Bill Lancaster, a (married) pilot who dreamed of being the first person to fly a light plane from Britain to Australia. Quickly surmising that Bill was more of a dreamer than a planner, she suggested a partnership - she would raise the money for the trip, and he would take her with him. Thus began their adventures together, first in a two seater Avro Avian biplane named the Red Rose, then is a series of other planes in America. Along the way they became lovers, encountered smugglers, snakes and media moguls. Chubbie competed in the first "Powder Puff Derby" for women pilots and Bill was tried for murder. Chubbie's courage, stamina, intelligence and sheer style was phenomenal. It's amazing that she seems to have been forgotten by history. She really was both a pioneer and a feminist to be proud of.
