This deftly written novel, based on fact, tells the story of the first female trapeze artist in Australia to parachute from a hot-air balloon. The life of the three sisters involved is a tortured tale of love lost and found, punctuated by moments of sheer terror. It will especially resonate with those who learned of the Van Tassel sisters in the recent Australian ABC mini-series Tiny Oz. ( )

The enthralling tale of the daring feat of parachuting from a hot air balloon in 19th century Australia & New Zealand.

The author has clearly put a lot of time and effort into the research for this book and has perfectly blended the fictional story with that research.

Each chapter is introduced with a factual newspaper headline/article that adds to the historical nature of the story.

Told from the perspective of the heroine of the book as she recounts her story to her grandchildren at the end of her career. The characters are included in the tale with all their flaws on show and interweave with other various real events.

I loved the characters and the story, enough to go out and read up on it a bit more both on the authors website and the wider internet, and the writing style allowed me to lose myself in the narrative which moves along at a nice pace.

Hints from the story teller of lies and deceit throughout the chronicle eventually bring the book to a shattering climax as her past catches up with her.

An excellent tale, very well told ( )