Zeppelin, a novel

It's 1936 and the American-German Paul Whitman is acting commander on the German Graf Zeppelin airship on its Frankfurt to Rio route. When he diverts the ship mid-route to rescue a passenger from a sinking ship, he does not realise that this will bring him into conflict with the rising Nazi party in Germany, and until this happens he does not truly realise the extent of changes in German society with the rise of the Reich. This story plays out over 2 continents and 3 countries as the Zeppelin suddenly becomes the centre of the plans of three differing parties who need to use the ship to either escape the hell Germany is slowly but surely becoming or as a means to a greater good. The author has written interesting, believable characters for this novel. They all are flawed in their own ways and his knowledge of airships seems impressive. He manages to make them very interesting, even when he gets really technical (on occasion) about what they can and can't do. This is a novel of both people and a world on the cusp of change. War is already at Europe's doorstep but everybody is doing their best to ignore the fact. I'm glad I found this book. In the hardcover version it's also a very handsome book, oversized and printed on beautiful paper with a deco style cover, it is physically a pleasure to read as well. It's always nice to see a well written and produced book like this.

After reading this book on vacation, I wondered how much of this story is factual. A truly interesting tale; a romance novel...with enough technical jargon to keep me interested! If you can find it, I believe you'll like it. Seth P. Wissner