Alan lives in Ohio with his wife and children. He is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Literary Cleveland, and the Akron Writers Group. About The Author Alan Hlad is a corporate executive turned writer. Yet Duchesss devotion and her singular sense of duty will be an unexpected lifeline. When Ollies plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. Those that do make the journey home to England can convey crucial information on German troop movements - and help reclaim the skies from the Luftwaffe. Codenamed Source Columba, the mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France. His quest brings him to Epping and to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment.

Thousands of miles away in Buxton, Maine, a young crop-duster pilot named Ollie Evans has decided to travel to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan - loyal, intelligent, beautiful - but none more so than Duchess, who shares a special bond with Susan and an unusual curiosity about the human world. After losing her parents to influenza as a child, Susan found comfort in raising homing pigeons with Bertie. Enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie. Book Synopsis It is September 1940 - a year into the war - and as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens, but when Ollies plane is downed behind enemy lines both know the chance of reunion is remote. In the National Pigeon Service, Susan is involved in an assignment code-named Source Columba, to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France, hopefully to convey crucial information on German troop movements. A Maine crop-duster pilot, Ollie Evans travels to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. Hatched from an egg that Susan incubated in a bowl under her grandfathers desk lamp, Duchess shares a special bond with Susan.

The two raise homing pigeons, and Susans favorite is Duchess. German bombs fall on Britain, and enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie.

The Long Flight Home by Alan Hlad