Under a War-Torn Sky with L. M. Elliott

In-Person or Online

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of her best-selling, award-winning Under a War-Torn Sky, author L. M. Elliott will talk about the American airmen of World War II and the resistance workers and compassionate citizens who dared help them.

Before D-day—before American soldiers could rush Normandy and begin the bloody trek to liberate Europe of Hitler—there were flyboys. Bomber crews who flew raids over Nazi-occupied Belgium, Netherlands, and France then into Germany’s Third Reich, shot at for hundreds of miles by anti-aircraft cannon on the ground and Luftwaffe fighters in the sky. Their mission: to drop bombs on munition plants, tank and plane factories to weaken Hitler’s war machine before other American boys had to storm those fortressed beaches.

All were volunteers. Typically under the age of 21. And most of them never made it back to their base in England. Between 1943 and 1945, a staggering 51,000 of our aircrews over Europe went missing. Of the 35 original aircrews of the 100th Bomb Group, 32 were killed or lost. Most flyers who managed to bail out of their burning planes were caught and interned in Hitler’s stalags. It is less clear how many of them tried to evade Nazi patrols and collaborators and make their way to neutral Switzerland or Spain.

Those who did escape were the lucky and rare. About 4,000 British and American servicemen survived–solely because of French, Dutch, and Belgian civilians. “Ordinary” people who stood up to brutality with extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity, taking in lost flyboys, guiding, sheltering, and sharing what little food they had—risking everything in that stunning, singular act of humanity, for which many paid the price.

Author L.M. Elliott’s father was one of those American airmen saved by the French–a young man who lived to come home, fall in love, get married, and have children and grandchildren. She’ll share a few moving moments from her recent trip to France, retracing her protagonist and her father’s escape paths, thanking and talking with French people—who remember and celebrate our life-or-death alliance.

Elliott was an award-winning magazine journalist before becoming a New York Times bestselling author of historical and biographical novels. Under a War-torn Sky is the first of 14 works, which include a sequel, A Troubled Peace and a home-front companion Across a War-tossed Sea. Her books have been honored with the Scott O’Dell, VLA Cardinal Cup, and Grateful American prizes for historical fiction; been named NCSS Notables, PBS Companion Reads, Bank St. College of Education Bests, Kirkus Bests, and finalists for nine state literature awards. She holds a BA from Wake Forest University and a MA in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes signed. Books will be available for sale and for signing at the event.

Each individual attending in-person must register to reserve a seat. Do not list two people on one registration.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer.

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Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.